Unknown Force: Quest For The Crystals
by Sailor Silver Ladybug
Summary: Eight of the Senshi and Shitennou are kidnapped as children. The others have only each other to lean on. This story (AU) tells of how they must fight against one another, how they must survive, and how they must rescue their fellow heroes from the darkness that has overtaken them. A host of new creatures must be fought to free the Crystals. Friendship, Adventure, and Romance!
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer** : I do not own Sailor Moon, or the canon characters. Any non-canon characters, as well as the storyline, however, are mine to use. I will not receive any monetary gain from this work.

 **Credit:** I did not come up with this idea entirely on my own. I have to let you all know this story was helped along by _**Astraearose-Silvermoon**_ , her husband, who goes by _**Phoenix**_ , and my husband _**Steve**_ , who says I must refer to him as " _my dear, sweet, and incredibly odd husband_."

 **Warning:** This story will probably have some Senshi on Senshi violence (but I don't plan for any deaths). Also, this story will be rated M for sexual content, because we all know I can't help myself. There are also deaths of some canon characters. Some of those are spoken of in this chapter.

 **Author's Note:** The timeline and ages may be a bit AU in this story. More info in chapter one. (Just know Mamoru's age is different, and Shingo and Hotaru are only one day apart in age).

* * *

 **Unknown Force:  
** **Quest for the Crystals**

* * *

 _Prologue_

* * *

TWELVE YEARS AGO...

* * *

 **D Point - The Arctic Circle - Dark Kingdom (Negaverse)**

* * *

"The task is simple," Beryl said. "Should you succeed, the Dark Kingdom will rise. We will rule all the Earth, and no one will ever take advantage of us again."

Agate bowed and then met his sister's eyes. "I will do my best," he promised.

"No. You will succeed brother. You must complete this task." Beryl glared at him, and Agate gulped.

"Yes Queen Beryl."

"Now, in order for us to succeed I must have them all now. As children. You may take any Youma you wish with you. You are to find them, and bring them all to me. I will take their crystals and Metallia will ensure that they turn to our side."

"Yes my Queen," Agate whispered.

"And brother?"

He nodded, waiting for her to finish.

"Kill the princess and take her Crystal. I won't wait for it. I want it. Above all else, destroy her."

Agate frowned, but nodded. He turned away quickly to collect the Youma he needed to complete his task. He wasn't sure how she expected him to kill a child. Taking them was bad enough, but to murder an innocent little girl, who didn't even know she was the princess… that just seemed too horrible.

He could track the crystals. It was his one true gift. He knew they were spread around Japan, and he could find them, but it would take work to track them all down. And to kill the poor princess...

* * *

 **Tokyo Japan (and Dark Kingdom)**

* * *

Agate stood on the roof of a high rise apartment building in Tokyo. He had to move fast to collect the girl. Her mother would still be at the hospital, and her father was busy in his art studio. Ami was usually taking a nap at this time of the day. He had been watching very carefully for the past three days. He looked in through the window, watching as she drifted off.

Her father was two windows to the left, already involved in his next work. He opened a portal and stepped through, stepping out into her bedroom. He waved a hand over her, enveloping her in a small bubble that would keep her still and silent until he reached the Negaverse. He opened the portal again, and stepped through into the throne room.

"Early success, I see," Queen Beryl said, her voice like velvet in her happiness. She stepped down from her throne and came forward to peer at the sleeping blue-haired child. "What is her name?"

"Ami." He looked at the child inside the bubble, wishing he could have left her at home with her mother and father.

"And Ami would one day have been Sailor Mercury, yes? She has quite the resemblance to her former self."

"Yes, my queen," Agate said, bowing low. "What would you like me to do with her?"

"Nothing," Beryl said. "Leave her here until the others arrive. They can all be reunited before I turn them."

Agate bowed again, "then I must go back and find the next," he said.

"Don't fail me brother," Queen Beryl said, and her voice was no longer velvet, but steel.

) * O * (

The shrine wasn't exactly heavily fortified. Walking in and taking the child should be an easy task. He was thankful the girl was there. Her grandfather should be easy to pass. It wasn't as though the man had any skills. A simple priest.

With any luck she would be sleeping when he got to her room. He didn't want her frightened and screaming. He moved stealthily, but his footsteps were hurried. He had to take her quickly. He reached the hallway where the family resided and hurried toward her door.

An elderly man suddenly stepped out of another room and, seeing him, frowned.

"What are you doing in here? Guests of the jinja are not allowed in the family quarters. It is clearly posted."

Without speaking Agate threw an attack, intending to knock the man unconscious. He didn't want to kill him. He didn't want to kill anyone. The priest dodged to the left and lifted his own hand, throwing out some sort of light energy. It glowed faintly orange, like flickering flames. He dodged the attack and struck again, and again without ceasing.

Twice he was knocked backwards, and then, finally, his own attack hit the man and he went down. Agate stood and straightened his clothing and his hair, which had gotten a bit wild during the short battle.

A moment later he was in the bedroom of the little girl, who stared up at him with wide, frightened eyes. He put her to sleep before placing the bubble over her. He wished she'd been asleep when he'd found her. He wished he could just leave her with her grandfather. He sighed in regret before opening the portal to the Negaverse and bringing little Rei to his sister.

) * O * (

Nephrite was the easiest of all to take. His mother had already passed away, and his father was on a drinking binge to drown his sorrows. The little boy was simply sitting on the swings in his backyard, staring up at the sky. They lived in a more residential area on the fringes of Tokyo, an area that was in a bit of disrepair.

"Hello little one," Agate said. "What are you doing out here all by yourself?"

The boy shrugged. Then he looked over at Agate. "I'm hungry," he said.

"Well, I can take you to get some food," Agate lied. The little boy nodded and when he held out his hand, Nephrite took it. He opened a portal to the Negaverse and stepped through. Then, as soon as it had closed, he put the boy to sleep and settled him into a bubble of his own. He didn't want his sister torturing the child. It was better for all of them if they slept.

) * O * (

Taking Haruka from her rather wealthy parents had been so simple it was laughable. He'd simply walked in, dressed as a caterer. Their home in Tokyo was always open for the lavish parties they threw. It was a simple matter to put her in the bubble and transport her to the Negaverse.

"Four in six days Agate. You are doing well," Beryl said, coming to look at the newest child. She had short blonde hair, and when she was awake, light blue eyes. "This one would have been Uranus. Now she will serve me." Beryl gave a smile that raised the hairs on the back of his neck.

He wished he could just leave the poor children with their families.

"I must go get the others sister. Now that I have begun to gather them, others will get suspicious."

"No excuses brother. I want them all."

Agate bowed and hurried away.

* * *

 **Mount Agato Japan**

* * *

Mamoru was a very happy boy. It was his fifth birthday, and his parents were taking him up Mount Agato. He loved the mountains. The roads were a bit slick though and his daddy was slowing down. It made Mamoru nervous. Then his mommy screamed and pointed. There was something strange in the road. It looked like a very tall lady, but she had purple skin and long claws, and instead of hair she had what looked like snakes.

Mamoru screamed too. He couldn't help it. The monster lady scared him. And then his daddy pulled on the steering wheel and the car made a strange turn and then they were flying. Flying and flying through the air. And the car was pointing down so he could see the ground coming up and up and up at him.

He screamed again. His head hit hard on the console in between the seats.

And then the angel came. The angel with the long blonde hair that looked like dumplings and noodles. She was beautiful. Her eyes caught him. So blue, like the sky.

"Look at me Mamoru," she said. "Just look at me, I've got you."

She opened his door and pulled him out of the car. She had wings! She was so beautiful. She was the most beautiful angel. The car was still falling down and down and then he was in her arms and flying. But his mommy and daddy were in the car. They were still going to hit the ground!

"Mommy! Daddy!" he screamed. "You have to save my mommy and daddy! Angels have to save everyone!"

"I can't baby. I'm sorry. I can only save you today. I wish I could save them for you. I'm so sorry Mamoru."

"But I'm all alone!" Mamoru screamed. He heard the crash, but the angel wouldn't let him look.

"You'll never be alone Mamoru. I'll be with you forever," the angel said. She pulled out a strange stick and held it near him. "I'm going to help you go to sleep now," she said. "When you wake up, you won't remember me, but I'll still be there for you." She kissed him on the forehead.

Mamoru sniffled. "Promise?" he asked.

"I promise," she said. She held the stick closer and whispered. "Moonlit Lullaby." His eyes fluttered closed and he had pretty dreams of a beautiful princess with long blonde hair in buns with long pretty streamers hanging down.

* * *

 **Kofu Japan (and Dark Kingdom)**

* * *

The two little boys lived with their mother and father in Kofu. The first four had all been in Tokyo, but he couldn't sense any more with Crystals there. He had moved on, and it had taken him several days to locate another town where the others would be.

Jadeite and Zoicite should be relatively easy to take since their mother was currently preoccupied with their new baby sister. He watched and waited until the two boys were allowed into their yard to play, and then he struck, putting the sleeping spell on them before they knew he was there.

With a single step he was back in the Negaverse, his total rising to six. Beryl's cackle of laughter echoed over the stone chamber, hurting his ears. He glanced at the other children as he moved the two boys toward them. Thankfully they were all still asleep.

He turned when his sister approached, and bowed. "I must go quickly," he told her. "These two at once will surely draw attention. People will be on high alert now."

) * O * (

Setsuna was afraid. A strange man had come to the orphanage. He had long red hair and really red eyes, and he looked at her funny. It had scared her. She wanted to run away from him. He had looked like he was reaching for her, and she had run away, hiding behind one of the nuns.

Sister Mary Agatha had told the man to leave. He had raised his hand, and then he shook his head. His eyes flashed silver and he closed them, looking very sad. Setsuna knew he was about to do something very bad.

But then a lady appeared. She had long green hair, just like Setsuna. And she stood between the man with the red hair and the nun. "Not this one," she said in a raspy voice.

"Don't try to get in my way," the man said. "I don't want anyone to get hurt." Again his eyes flashed silver before returning to the vivid red.

"It's too late for that." The woman snarled at the man. "I won't let you take her." She stepped backward carefully. "Sister, Setsuna is no longer safe here. This man, or others like him, will return again and again until they take her. Please, give her to me and I can protect her."

"Don't give her to the woman, she's bad," the man with red eyes said.

The green haired woman gave a harsh laugh. "I'm bad? You've taken six children and given them to the worst sort of evil. I have only ever protected people."

Again the man's eyes flashed silver. Setsuna thought maybe he was arguing with himself about what to do. Maybe he didn't want to be bad.

Setsuna walked forward then, and took the hand of the green-haired lady. Then she turned and waved goodbye to the Sister. "If I stay, you'll all get hurt," she said. "I'm going with the nice lady. I'll be okay."

"Setsuna, I can't just let you go," Sister Mary Agatha looked like she was about to cry.

"I'll protect her, I swear," the pretty woman said. The sister looked into the other woman's eyes, and then glanced back at Setsuna. She looked back and forth between them several times. And then she nodded slowly.

The red-haired man was not happy. "You can't take her!" he screamed. "I need her!" He lifted a hand and threw some sort of energy at both of them. But the green-haired lady blocked it. She protected Setsuna and whisked her away.

) * O * (

Agate had now failed twice. He shook his head. His sister would not be pleased. He had wanted to hide his failures, but could not. He transported to the Negaverse and went to one knee in front of the throne.

"Sister," he said, his head bowed. "There are no more in Tokyo or in Kofu."

"There's more," she growled, looking very angry.

"Twice I have failed to take a child," he whispered the words. Then he cleared his throat and looked up at her. "The first was the Time Guardian. She was protected by someone quite powerful. Someone who knew I was coming and took her away. She is no longer in Kofu."

"And the second?" Beryl asked.

"The second, the sun protector, was not home when I arrived." He gulped. When he'd gone to their house the child was not there. He'd entered the child's bedroom in the middle of the night, only to find it empty. He had at least learned the child's name was Haruki.

"Then extract his location from the parents," Beryl said, her look fierce and angry.

"I tried," he explained. "They were unwilling to speak, so I used the Youma. One of them grew too… enthusiastic. Both parents were lost before questions could be answered."

"What!?" Beryl screamed. The sound reverberated around the chamber.

"I humbly beg forgiveness my queen." Agate said, frowning. There was a blast of dark energy and he was knocked off his feet, landing hard on the stone floor of the chamber.

"You are not forgiven brother," Beryl said, her tone full of venom. "You've lost me a mated pair," she growled. "Two of the strongest among the children, and you lost them."

Agate stayed still and silent.

"Where are the Youma now?" Beryl asked, her tone more even.

He waved his hand, pulling the three Youma back into the Negaverse. Before he could even blink, they were destroyed.

"You will get others and you will find me those children," Beryl said in an deadly voice. "If you fail to bring me all of them, you will be put into the eternal sleep," she said, and then she smiled. "You don't want to fail me, do you?"

"No Queen Beryl. I will bring you the others."

"Good."

* * *

 **Kyoto Japan (and Dark Kingdom)**

* * *

) * O * (

Michiru was difficult to find. Her family often moved, but eventually he found them in Kyoto. There were other children there. Many of the others. He frowned, wishing he was through this horrid task. He didn't want to do this anymore. He also didn't want to be put in the eternal sleep. He had no choice but to continue.

The child was difficult to track down. She was only four, but her parents had her in music lessons for several hours a day. She also took other lessons, including horseback riding, painting, and swimming. The child never seemed to get a break. He thought perhaps this one was better off in the Negaverse.

He finally tracked her down when she was at her music lesson, and with a wave of his hand put both her, and the violin teacher to sleep. He encased the girl in a bubble and took her instantly to his sister.

Beryl smiled when he appeared, and he hoped he was on his way to forgiveness.

"This one, she is Neptune?" Beryl asked.

"Yes. Her name is Michiru."

"Put her with the others," Beryl commanded.

Agate nodded and quickly moved her bubble to the wall of the chamber where the other six floated. He put her next to the girl with short blonde hair. Haruka. They were soulmates. He could feel it even now.

"By your leave sister, I must go get the others."

"Go. And do not fail me again."

) * O * (

He had found Makoto in Kyoto as well. He was thankful. Her mother was in the kitchen preparing a snack for her and he had simply made a portal into the child's bedroom and taken her. He instantly put her in a bubble in deep sleep and brought her to his sister. He could not afford to fail again.

"Brother, how long must I wait?" Beryl asked as he put Makoto beside Nephrite.

"I will be going after another this afternoon," he promised. "The leader of the Shitennou."

"No longer. Now they will be my Dark Generals." Beryl laughed. "And they will still protect their prince, once he is mine."

Agate only nodded his head. There was nothing else to say or do. She had the power, the control. "Yes, my Queen," he said. "By your leave, I will go collect him."

"Go," she said gleefully. "I want more. I want them all."

) * O * (

Kunzite laughed as he rode his bike into the street. He loved to play on his bike. His mom and dad had gotten it for him, and he loved it. Momma yelled at him to get out of the road, and he huffed as he obeyed. He was five. He wasn't a baby anymore.

The phone started to ring and Momma picked it up. He turned and looked at her because she made a strange sound. Her face had gone so pale, and she fell to the ground.

"Gone?" she asked. There was a short silence as she listened to someone talking to her.

"All of them?" Another silence.

"And the girls?" His Momma was shaking.

Then she hung up the phone and hurried to pick him up. She was shouting for Daddy, and yelling about his cousins being taken. His cousins. Nephrite, Zoicite, and Jadeite. That was bad. He was worried about them. People shouldn't take kids. He really didn't understand.

Momma was talking to Daddy.

"We have to get to her now. Her parents won't protect her. I doubt they'd even notice she was missing." Daddy said.

Kunzite wondered who they were talking about.

"We're all that's left, what can we do against the powers of the Dark Kingdom?" Momma asked.

"Not much. It's not like we have powers of our own. All I'm saying is that we have to hide them. There has to be a way. Get Kunzite in the car. We don't know when he's coming. We have to go now. They might be watching us."

Momma grabbed him and buckled him into the car. Daddy climbed in and started it and Momma hopped in after him. There was a strange squealing sound as they pulled out of the driveway. Daddy drove fast, and then they stopped for a minute. Kunzite knew where they were. It was his friend Mina's house. He smiled. He liked Mina.

) * O * (

Kunzite. That was the boy's name. He was not at home. Nothing had been taken from his house. The youma he had sent ahead of him had no information. There was no evidence of flight. It was possible they had gone to the store. He could wait, or go get the other girls and then return. The leader of the Princess' guard was close by. He would try to obtain her now, and come back for the boy.

He sent his mind out, searching for her direction. Her home wasn't far. He created a portal and closed in on the location. Three jumps later he was standing in her back yard, staring in at the child's parents. He could sense her presence all over the house. She wasn't home at the moment. Another he would have to come back for later. There were plenty more. He wasn't going to report this until he had good news to report along with it.

) * O * (

He had found the princess. Tsukino Usagi. He also found the earth prince and the sun protector with her. That would please his sister. He sighed, unhappy.

He had been ordered to kill the princess, and to take the others with him to the Dark Kingdom. He didn't want to do it. It was hard enough being told to kidnap children without being ordered to murder one of them. And she was just a sweet adorable three-year-old girl. A child who had never harmed anyone. It just wasn't right.

He watched her, as she sat in that hospital room next to Mamoru. Her cousin Haruki was next to her, on the bed beside the two of them. All three looked sad. The Prince, his name was Mamoru, was about to be moved to the orphanage. Usagi and Haruki had come to bid him farewell. Such a strange turn of events. How was it that at just three, the girl had already found her soulmate. He could feel the connection.

Perhaps his sister was wrong. If they had found each other again so easily, maybe it was Beryl who was insane. Maybe it was Beryl who was poaching. He shook his head. No. He couldn't let himself be swayed. He had to murder the girl, had to take the boys. It was his job.

But… he didn't want to live in a world controlled by Metallia. He didn't want a world where there was no hope. The little girl brought hope. He'd seen it.

Another little boy entered the room as he watched from his perch. Agate was annoyed. He didn't want anyone else to see him snatch the children. The little boy ran in, spoke to the others, and started to run back out. At the door he was met by the woman with long green hair. The woman spoke to him quietly, and then took his hand and guided him back inside.

He had to move quickly. He created a portal and entered the hospital room, but before he could make a move she gathered all four children to her, and then there was a flash of light, and all of them disappeared. He yelled in frustration, causing a nurse to poke her head into the room. He snarled at her until she backed out of the room. Frustrated with his failure, he disappeared into a portal and reappeared on the hospital roof. He had two others he had to take.

Both babies would be in the hospital nursery. He had their names written down. Tomoe Hotaru, and Tsukino Shingo. He had to think about where to appear. Then he created his next portal and appeared in the nursery. It was filled with infants.

This whole thing was too frustrating for words. He searched the basinets. Hotaru had only been born four hours before, while Shingo was almost a day old. He searched through the infants, looking at the cards on the basinets. He couldn't sense their Crystals anymore. He continued looking, more panicked now.

Then he found their name cards. On empty basinets. He growled. He would have to wait or confront the parents to take them. Their parents had no power however, so he decided making his move immediately was best.

He walked out of the nursery and down the hall to where Hotaru's parents were. The room was empty. The bedclothes were rumpled as though someone had just been there. Moving to the bed he touched it. The sheets were still warm. They couldn't have gone far. Unless…

No! He moved out into the hall and ran towards the room of Shingo's parents. Empty. Bed still warm. He screamed his frustration out. Again a nurse looked into the room. This one had a security guard with her.

"How did you get in here?" she asked. "You don't have a wrist band, and you aren't with a family. You can't be here."

Agate didn't bother to speak to her. He simply waved his hand and put both of them to sleep before creating a portal. He had to find those children! He could not fail! He raced away to try and find the two he had missed earlier.

) * O * (

Little Usagi stared up at the pretty woman. She and the others had cried for a moment, but the pretty woman had brought them all straight to Usagi's parents and her new brother. There was another little girl with them, who had green hair like the pretty woman. There was also a little baby girl with her mother and father, all wrapped in a pink blanket.

But they weren't in the hospital anymore. She didn't know where they were, but it wasn't the same place. It was a pretty room. A very big pretty room.

"I don't have much time. I have to get the others. Stay here."

Usagi watched her disappear, and stared at everyone in the room. Haruki took her hand. Fiore, Mamoru's best friend, huddled close to him, almost seeming to hide behind him for protection. She went to the other little boy. He had a secret that they couldn't let anyone find out.

"It's okay," she whispered. "None of the growned-ups will hurt you."

"But…" he frowned, looked very frightened.

"We won't let them," she promised. Mamoru and Haruki nodded emphatically. "No one knows, and they won't find out, okay?"

Fiore nodded his head, but then he bent over and started coughing. "I can't stay here," he whispered. "This planet will make me sick. I already told Mamoru."

"I wish you would get better and be able to stay with us forever," Usagi said, and hugged him tight.

"Wow!" breathed Mamoru.

Usagi turned and looked at him. "What?" she asked, confused.

"You glowed Usagi!"

"I… glowed?"

"Yeah, when you hugged Fiore," Haruki said. "None of the grown ups saw you though. They're all looking at the babies."

The little girl with long green hair came over to them. "Hi," she whispered shyly. "You gloweded."

Usagi looked at her, a little afraid. "Please don't tell. I don't want them spearminting on me."

"Experimenting," corrected Fiore.

"I won't tell," the girl said. "I promise."

"Thanks," Usagi said, and breathed a sigh of relief. She was too young to have them do weird things like take her brain and study it. Fiore was terrified they'd do that to him. He wasn't from Earth, and he said grown ups could be mean. Usagi didn't think her parents would be mean, but she didn't want to take any chances.

"Do you want to be my friend?" Usagi asked, impulsively. It was hard to be the only girl in their group.

The little girl nodded her head. Her green hair swayed prettily, and she blushed. "I'm Setsuna," she said.

"I'm Usagi. Sets… setsu… can I just call you Sets? I still don't talk as good as the boys."

Setsuna nodded her head and Usagi hugged her.

) * O * (

Agate tracked the boy and the girl. They were together. He wanted to scream in frustration. He had missed the babies, the prince and princess, and the sun protector. Plus, there had been another little boy. Once he'd entered the room he could sense the power of the other child. He wondered if perhaps he could find the green-haired woman again. She had power. It seemed so familiar too. It was so similar to…

Agate wanted to groan in fear and anger. He had been bested by the future Time Guardian. That young woman was Setsuna, mostly grown he thought. No wonder she had gotten the children away from him. She had already known where he would strike.

Which meant he had to grab the other two before she could reach them. He created a portal and found himself in the parking lot of a small motel. He raced for the door of the room the power of the two children was emanating from. He blasted through the door angrily.

To find the room empty. In his frustration and anger he began throwing dark energy around the room. He was going to be put into the eternal sleep. He had to find those children!

) * O * (

The woman with green hair returned with four more people. Two children, a boy and a girl, and two adults with white-blonde hair. The children ran over to them. Mamoru made sure Fiore stayed behind him, so that nobody noticed him.

Usagi latched onto the other little girl and held her hand, while Haruki did the same to the boy. The two adults moved over with the others into one large group. The woman with the green hair talked to them all in hushed voices for a long time.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Fiore asked. Usagi thought he looked a little better.

"I don't know. How do you feel? You don't look sick anymore," Mamoru said, and rested a hand on his friend's forehead. There was no fever anymore.

"I feel much better," Fiore said. "Ever since Usagi hugged me.

Mamoru was confused. He had seen her glowing when she hugged him. Maybe she healed him. Maybe she was an alien too, and just didn't know it. But then, how had he survived a more than two hundred foot fall in a car, get thrown from it on the way down, and survive with just a bump on his forehead. Sometimes things didn't make sense.

The young woman with green hair was handed both the babies. She turned and walked to the rest of them and Mamoru wasn't sure what she wanted.

"Usagi, do you want to hold your brother?"

The little odangoed blonde bobbed her head up and down several times. She sat on the floor and held her arms in a circle. The older girl put Shingo in her arms.

"Mamoru, could you please sit next to her and hold Hotaru for me?" she asked. Mamoru nodded and sat on the ground in front of her. He copied Usagi's movements. He couldn't remember ever holding a baby before. Then again, he couldn't remember anything beyond the past five days. Not even his mom and dad. Hotaru was placed in his arms, and he held her carefully, worried she would fall and get hurt.

"Okay, Minako, please stand right beside Kunzite. Setsuna, please stand next to Haruki. Fiore, I want you in the middle. Just behind Mamoru and Usagi please. Now, stay very still. This won't hurt a bit."

Setsuna held something in her hand. Two things. One was a Silver Crystal, the other a Jet Crystal. "This had better work Moon," she muttered. She said something Mamoru didn't understand and the two crystals began to glow. The lights were very pretty, and they blended together beautifully. They twisted around and around, and then circled around all of the children. "Until your fifteenth year," she whispered. And then the lights were gone.

* * *

 **D Point - The Arctic Circle - Dark Kingdom (Negaverse)**

* * *

) * O * (

Agate screamed. Beryl's rage was uncontained. He had never hurt so much before. He could hear the children sobbing behind him. Beryl had woken them so that they could 'see the price of failure.'

"You have failed me for the last time brother. Half. I sent you for all, and you brought me half!"

"Sister, I tried. Someone else was obviously trying to help them. Someone from the future." Agate tried to explain, but Beryl wasn't listening.

"I don't want to hear your excuses." Beryl screamed.

"It's not an excuse! Give me more time! I'll find them!"

"You said you can no longer sense them," Beryl snarled. "If you can't sense them, what use are you to me?"

"I'm your brother. I'm loyal," he begged.

"I think, maybe, you need time to think about what you've done," Beryl growled. "An eternity perhaps."

A light appeared from Beryl's tiara. There was a strange sound and a crystal chamber appeared in front of him. He shook his head in denial. He didn't want to be trapped forever.

"The Sentence of Eternal Sleep," Beryl whispered.

"But I know their identities!" he tried to scream, tried to tell her he had valuable information, but before another word could be spoken, he found himself inside the crystal, unable to move. He couldn't so much as blink his eyes. He watched the throne room disappear and then he was in blackness. Complete and utter darkness. From which, he knew, he would never escape.

) * O * (

Queen Beryl looked over the eight children in front of her, and smiled. Their faces were tear-stained. Good. She liked to be feared. If they feared her, they would obey her. If they obeyed her, then eventually she would collect all the others.

She called forward one of her favorite Youma and gave him a simple order. "Find those children. And if you can't, find me anyone related to them, and destroy them. Don't come back until they have no family left. And if you find those children, bring them to me. Oh, and while you're at it… make sure none of these have family left either."

There were screams and pleas, but she ignored them. When the Youma was gone, she turned back to the children. They were weeping even harder now. She would have to do something about that. Age them up a bit. They were useless to her as they were. But first, she wanted their crystals. She held up her staff and tapped it twice on the ground, her other hand open, waiting for them to fly into her grasp.

But when the crystals emerged, they refused to come towards her. Aggravated, she tried spells and even having the Youma take them. But any Youma who touched them died, screaming. She pointed to one of the children and told him to take the crystals. He gathered them into his arms and walked towards her.

Instinctively she backed away. She did not want to die screaming. Without the Silver Crystal, she could not control these. But they couldn't remain with the children. No. She would have to put them somewhere safe. She opened a portal and with a wave of her hand sent the eight stones through to a place of great evil. There they would continue to corrupt the children from afar.

For now, Metallia's energy could work on them while they slept in the Crystal Coffins. If she understood correctly, their powers wouldn't emerge until they reached puberty anyways. Until then they were useless, sniveling, whining brats who would only cause a headache and get underfoot.

"Follow me," she ordered. None of the children moved. She turned to several nearby Youma. "Bring them," she said, and the Youma began rounding up the children. They followed her into the chamber. Only half the Crystal Coffins she'd built would be put to use. But soon, she hoped, the others would be there.

She was suddenly glad her brother had been unable to kill the reincarnated princess. If she was alive, she could be swayed. And if she could be swayed, she could control all the other crystals. And it would be lovely to have her watch as Beryl finally got her prince. She laughed.

The children screamed and cried as they were forced into the chambers, but Queen Beryl waved her staff and the chambers began their work. Silencing the children and holding them captive. They could not move or speak. She waved her staff once more and each child fell into a deep sleep. Metallia could work on them in their dreams just as well as she could awake.

* * *

 **Tokyo Japan**

* * *

Usagi woke up in her pretty bed. She loved her new house. Her mommy and daddy had bought it after they'd moved to Tokyo. She liked Tokyo. She liked the pretty house with pretty balconies. She liked the comforter on her bed. Her mommy and daddy worked really hard to make sure everything was okay. And now she had Minako for a sister since her mommy and daddy had died. Her cousin Haruki's parents were gone now too. So it was a very loud house sometimes.

And her bestest friends all lived with her, or right next door. Kunzite's mommy and daddy had adopted Mamoru and Fiore, and Setsuna. So there were lots of kids for her to play with. They had put a gate in the fences to their back yards, and all of them could run back and forth and see each other whenever they wanted.

Hotaru's mommy and daddy lived in Tokyo now too, but they were in a big tall building. She didn't really remember why they had all moved. Mommy and daddy didn't say much about it, but they taught all the kids to run away from strangers. Strangers were dangerous. Daddy said strangers had tried to take Shingo once. She couldn't remember it though.

But she liked Tokyo. She liked being there, and being near her friends. She liked the way mommy took care of them all during the day so she could see them. Then Kunzite's mommy watched them at night so Usagi's mommy could go and volunteer. Volunteer was hard on mommy. She cried sometimes, when she came back. But she wanted to find some missing kids. It made Usagi sad that kids were missing.

She hoped one day they could go home to their mommies and daddys. When she was older, she promised herself, she would help find those missing kids, and bring them home.

) * O * (

 **KIDNAPPINGS FINALLY OVER?  
 _Tsukino Kenji_**

 _Eight children have gone missing from three cities. Tokyo, Kyoto, and Kofu. The kidnappings occured over a two week period. It is said that several other attempts were made, including two infants from a hospital in Kyoto, during that same period. However, no more children have been taken in such a way._

 _In every case, there was little to no interaction with the kidnapper(s). The only suspect seen was a male with long red hair and red eyes. The grandfather of one of the victims claims the man simply vanished in the blink of an eye. The other parents claim that their doors were locked, and in many cases, they were home and awake at the time of the kidnapping._

 _Now, two months later, the police believe the kidnappings are over, and that they were the work of a single person. They do not hold out hope of the children ever being found. It is believed all eight children are deceased. The police have called off the search._

 _The parents of the missing children have had vastly different reactions. The father of one child had already lost his wife, and at the loss of his son, committed suicide. Another family left the country, unable to bear the memories of their happy child who disappeared._

 _Hino-san, the priest of the Hikawah Jinja, and grandfather to one of the missing spent several weeks in front of the Fire, hoping to find his grandfather with the help of the Kami. His health deteriorated until, late last week, his neighbor checked on the elderly man, and found him dead of a heart-attack. His granddaughter was his only remaining family, and it is believed that he died from his heartache._

 _In a related story, two of the families, both who had girls taken, and both wealthy, though in different parts of the country, have suffered even more tragedy. In one household, the entire home burned to the ground, with every member of the family inside. In the other, a strange sickness took the whole family overnight. They were pronounced dead on the scene. No one knows what the sickness was, but it does not appear to be contagious._

 _This editor would ask that no one give up hope on the missing children. There are still several families out there, hoping and praying for any news on their missing child(ren). Please, if you have any information call XX-XXXX-XXXX._


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** The ages in this story…  
Mamoru, Haruki, Fiore, Kunzite, Jadeite, Zoicite, Nephrite - 17  
Haruka, Michiru, Setsuna - 16  
Usagi, Minako, Rei, Ami, Makoto - 15  
Shingo and Hotaru - 12

* * *

 **Unknown Force:  
Quest for the Crystals**

* * *

 _Chapter One_

* * *

 **Tokyo Japan**

* * *

 **In Memorandum  
** _It is with deepest regret that we inform you of the passing of our editor Tsukino Kenji, and his wife Ikuko. They leave behind several children. Two daughters, and two sons. Our editor was the champion of many causes, and his wife volunteered at a children's center, where they met and adopted one of their daughters. They also adopted their nephew as their own child, and were actively involved in programs that helped find missing children, and when possible, reunite them with their families.  
They will be greatly missed…._

Usagi folded up the often read article without bothering to finish. Most of it was platitudes. It was the pictures she focused on. Pictures of her father and mother working and volunteering. It was that volunteer work that had gotten them killed just over a year ago. A strange creature had found them at the youth center, and had killed them, along with the parents of Kunzite, who had taken in Mamoru, Fiore, Setsuna, and Hotaru.

Hotaru's own parents had died several years earlier, when an experiment in their lab had gone awry. Or that was the claim. Usagi was firmly under the impression that another monster had been involved. Monsters seemed to follow their families.

She looked at the other article on her stack. It listed the other mysterious deaths from around that time. Minako's parents had died under strange circumstances, around the time she met her. And hers weren't the only ones to die. Her cousin Haruki's parents had been killed the day after he had come to stay with them.

Two of the children kidnapped were brothers, and cousins of Kunzite, and another boy who had been taken. Their mother, father, and little sister all died shortly after they moved to Tokyo, only three months after Minako's parents. There was a claim that one boy's father killed himself, but Usagi had long been wondering. Another of the girls who went missing, Makoto, had relatively wealthy parents who had also died, while on their way to speak to someone about finding their daughter.

Shortly after their daughters were taken, both of the wealthiest families had suffered major disasters. One a fire that destroyed the house with the family inside, the other a sickness that did not spread to anyone after, and had never been identified. Usagi thought it was the monsters.

The priest, Hino-san, had apparently died of heartbreak. He'd spent weeks trying to find his granddaughter. His story was the most tragic to her. He had lost his daughter and son-in-law when she had died in childbirth, and he, unable to live without her, had taken his own life. And then his granddaughter had disappeared only a few months later.

Just three days before, the Mizuno's, the last remaining family of one of the missing children, had died. They traveled the world. The girl's mother was a doctor who traveled to areas where medical help was needed. The father was a painter and did exhibits of the artwork he created in whatever area they stayed while she helped heal people. They had been in the Amazon rainforest, and had suddenly been set upon by a creature. The story had made its way back to Japan, and it came out that all the family members of the missing children were deceased.

Usagi knew her parents were dead because they had been searching for those children. Which led her to believe those children were still alive somewhere. She sighed. She and Minako had been talking about taking up the search. Unfortunately, they had no leads.

It was bad enough that they now lived on their own, as did their friends. They had to run every major purchase through their parent's lawyer, who was their legal guardian. Their houses had been sold within weeks of their parents deaths. All their money was controlled by their guardian, who doled it out piecemeal, even though there was more than enough to see them through.

Now they all lived in an apartment building. It was a bit old, but it was very close to their school, and it was near the Crown Game Center, and their friends. They had two apartments, both of them had three bedrooms. The apartments were small, but since they were the only ones on their floor they opened the doors up most of the time and it became one big space for them. They wanted to just get one big place, but the lawyer said no.

Usagi had an idea that might change his mind. She pulled out another folder and looked through it. She'd calculated the costs. The rent on two apartments for the next eight years, versus the cost of buying a building that the city was selling at the price of unpaid taxes. They could maintain the building for less than a quarter the cost of what was spent now. She could probably convince him to give them a larger living allowance too.

The building was closer to their school and the arcade too. And she thought perhaps it would make things easier on all of them. The building was built as a dormitory originally. It was three floors, with plenty of rooms, so they could all have their own if they wanted to. Of course, she and Minako would probably still share. They both felt safer together. And the nightmares…

Minako's head was resting on her own desk. She appeared to be sleeping, but Usagi thought she heard her sister sigh. It was sort of funny. They looked so much alike that no one believed Minako was adopted. So they stopped bothering to try. Besides, Minako didn't have to be blood to be her sister.

Usagi sighed. "Minako? Are you awake?"

"Yeah, sorry. I was thinking about those poor families. And it made me wonder. Do you remember dad telling us that people had once tried to take Shingo?"

Usagi nodded as Minako sat up and looked at her. "Yeah. I was thinking along similar lines. I've started remembering things…" Usagi trailed off, not sure she could explain.

"Like a green haired woman?" Minako asked. "And traveling from one place to another really fast?"

Usagi frowned. "Yes. And a man with red hair, and red eyes, watching me and Mamoru and Haruki. I thought I was imagining it."

"No," Minako whispered. "I don't think you were.

"What if Mamoru's parents, and Haruki's, and yours…" Usagi didn't want to finish.

"That's what I was thinking," Minako admitted. "I think we were going to be taken too. That was the day we met little Hotaru and you and the others. Kunzite's parents came to get me. They were really upset. And all three of Kunzite's cousins were taken."

"I know. I think maybe we all were supposed to be. This article dad wrote says two babies. Shingo and Hotaru, I'm thinking. And there was a police report in his files. The room Mamoru was in… a nurse claimed she saw a man with red hair and red eyes in there right when we left the room."

"I think the green haired lady saved us."

"Do you think we're still in danger?" Usagi asked.

"Yes," she whispered. "I was talking about it to Fiore, and he said he thinks the man with the red eyes was going to take us." She sighed. "I'm scared."

"Me too. I think we should move," Usagi said. "I want to go talk to the lawyer."

"We'd better get the others then," Minako said.

Usagi wanted to groan. As much as she knew they needed the others, she had a secret she was trying to keep hidden, and the more the others saw, the liklier it was that they would notice. She stood and gathered her files.

"Lets go."

) * O * (

Haruki stared across the desk at the elderly man who was their legal guardian until they reached the age of twenty, or at least until a few of them had. Then they could petition to adopt the others. The lawyer might be a little tightfisted with money, but he was a good man and had promised their parents to keep them together and out of the orphanages.

He was rather impressed with Usagi's work. His cousin had put together all the documentation, as well as making a list of the pros and cons of owning the building. She was talking rapidly with Kobayashi-san, trying to convince him their idea was best.

"I understand that the initial cost is slightly high, but I've thought about it. Sets helped me with the math. It will cost much less for us in the long run to buy this building. And that's including the costs of any repairs that would need to be made, as well as heating the property and having water, electricity, and even cable." Usagi put a paper in front of him.

"Plus," she continued, " there's plenty of room. The kitchen and dining room are one big room, so instead of running back and forth between two apartments we will all be together. And it's safer. Our neighborhood has had nine of those strange attacks in one month. This other neighborhood has had two."

"You have to understand a few facts first," Kobayashi-san said. "First, it isn't only you I'm responsible for. I am the lawyer for the missing children your parents were searching for."

Haruki gasped. He hadn't known that. He watched Usagi and Minako give each other one of those glances everyone called their 'twin look,' and wondered what they were thinking.

"There's enough room for all of them," Usagi said.

The lawyer nodded. "Okay, that's done. Then there are two other things. I want any of you who can to try and find a part-time job. I have several reasons for this, but the biggest reason is that if you want me to trust you with the responsibility of this building, I want you to prove to me that you can work towards it. Whatever money you make you will divide in half. One half will go into your household accounts. The other half will be your personal spending money. That does not include tuition, books, or school clothing. It is for extras. Fun things."

"How many hours a week would you like us to work?" Mamoru asked. "Usagi struggles with math, and I don't like the idea of Shingo and Hotaru being alone."

"Lets do this. There are seven of you who are old enough to work. I would like a total of at least seventy hours between you. And it doesn't have to be all of you working. Some of you do better with school and don't need as much study time." Kabayashi-san smiled at Mamoru, Setsuna, and Fiore.

"We can deal with that," Haruki told him. He looked over at Kunzite, who nodded. "I think our biggest concern is safety."

Usagi nodded frantically. "I'm sure you read some of my father's files before you gave them to me," she said, frowning. "I think you probably came to the same conclusions we did."

"I did. All I can tell you is that I think you are more than capable of protecting yourselves. But, I will allow for the purchase of a security system if you pay for one quarter of the cost. Also, have you all kept up with your lessons?"

Kunzite and Minako nodded. "We go to classes every day, and twice a week we work with the others." Kunzite said.

Minako frowned. "I still think we need more," she muttered. "Usagi and I are both worried."

"We can work out the details later. For now, let me get started on purchasing this building."

"What was the third thing?" Setsuna asked, her hand running through Hotaru's hair.

"You will be completely responsible for keeping the building and the grounds cleaned and maintained. I won't hire a gardener or cleaners. You have to do that yourselves. I know Usagi and Mamoru both can tend a garden, and the rest of you can clean. Repairs are a different matter. I won't be around forever, and one day you'll have to be entirely self-sufficient."

"You will too be around forever," Usagi insisted. Haruki stifled a laugh. He watched as Mamoru gently rested a hand on her shoulder and wondered how long it would be before the two of them realized they were in love.

"Be that as it may, I have other clients to see today," Kabayashi-san told them.

"Thank you for seeing us all on such short notice," Usagi said. Haruki smiled. She was always kind, and usually polite.

* * *

The job search was not going well. Minako had no idea what she was good at, as she had never worked before, and being only fifteen, there were few places that would hire her. It was legal for her to work, but she had a few months left in middle school, and most places avoided those students. She was frustrated. It had been almost a week since they'd been told to find jobs, and only Mamoru and Usagi had them.

For Usagi it had been as easy as spilling her problems to Motoki, a great friend of theirs. How she wished she'd gotten there first. Usagi was a bit of a klutz, but could work the counter with the best of them. She served ice cream and soda, and occassionally waited tables. She also helped kids play the games, which she went on about for several hours the night before.

Mamoru had found his job in a doctor's office, doing cleaning after they had closed for the evening. It was right around the block from the house they wanted to buy, and Minako was happy about that. She was worried that she would end up at home most nights, responsible for the kids, and for cooking. And cooking wasn't her best ability. In fact, it was among the worst.

She looked through the paper and found a notice that there was a call center looking for employees. There were also several retail shops. There was a call for nurses and emergency responders. Those were the most needed jobs. She sighed. Most of those places wouldn't hire her.

The phone rang. She heard Haruki answer it in another room and stood to go see what was happening. It had been nearly a week since they'd spoken to the lawyer, and she was nervous to see if they were able to purchase the property. But Haruki only spoke for a moment before he turned and handed the phone to her.

"Hello? This is Minako," she said, wondering who it was. The only people who ever called were Naru, Motoki, and their lawyer.

"Hello Minako. It's Etsuko. I was talking to Usagi earlier and she said you were looking for work as well. We just had to fire a waitress at the Crown Fruit Parlor. Do you think you could handle ten to fifteen hours a week? Mostly on Sunday afternoons, as it's our busiest day, and a couple evenings a week to help us close."

"That would be wonderul. Thank you Furuhata-san," Minako said, a little more formal than she would have been otherwise, since the call was regarding a job.

"Good. Thanks Mina-chan. If you could come in tomorrow we can do your paperwork."

"Hie. I'll be there right after school." Minako promised.

"Arigato. I'll talk to you then." The line clicked.

Minako turned to see Haruki and Shingo in a happy dance. She laughed. "That's three down, four to go," she told them.

"Actually," said Haruki, "Fiore and I both got jobs before we came home. We're going to work at the grocery store." Haruki looked proud of himself as Minako jumped and squealed in delight. Soon they would all be working, she just knew it.

She didn't fool herself into believing having jobs made them self-sufficient. It didn't at all. But it would help, and it would prove to Kabayashi-san that they were serious about taking responsibility for themselves.

Kunzite came in, a frown on his face, and she went to him automatically. He was probably her closest friend on the planet. She fought to make sure none of her deeper feelings for him showed. She didn't want to ruin what they had by unleashing the details of her unrequited love.

"What's wrong?" she asked him, giving him a quick hug.

"Nothing really," he said, "just a rough day. I think I have a line on a job though, down at the herbalists shop. I just don't know for sure yet. But school was a pain, and then job-searching on top of it took a lot out of me."

"We're all going to have to get used to it," Setsuna said, coming in. "I had a horrid day too. How are we supposed to meet seventy hours with just two people working?" she asked, groaning as she sat down on the couch.

"We aren't," Haruki said. "Minako, Fiore and I found jobs."

"You did?" Kunzite smiled and picked Minako up, twirling her around. "That's great. He added a high five for Haruki after setting her back on her feet. "Where is Fiore? He wasn't in his room."

"He went out to get a few things. He'll be back," Haruki told them. "I'm pretty sure he went to that new shop so he could flirt with that girl he likes."

Minako couldn't help giggling. Fiore flirted with a lot of girls.

"I think I might have a job for you Sets," Mamoru said, coming in a moment later with Usagi.

"What is it?" Setsuna asked.

"The cram school needs a teacher's aide a couple hours a day during the week. The one right near the Crown. The teacher was in there earlier when I was waiting for Usa, and she remembered you." Mamoru smiled.

Minako wanted to do a happy dance. In a single week they had met the lawyer's requirements. "Usagi should call Kabayashi-san and let him know."

"Not until it's a guarantee," Usagi said. "I want him to know we're serious."

Minako nodded. Her sister had become responsible almost overnight when their parents had died. Especailly since Minako had taken it so hard. And Haruki. They'd both lost two sets of parents.

* * *

Mamoru finished work and locked the building before heading to the Crown. He insisted that they all meet there when everyone had work in the evenings. Shingo and Hotaru did their homework at a table and played games while they waited. Minako, who was in the Fruit Parlor across the street, would walk over as soon as she was done.

Kunzite, who now worked in the herbalist shop, and Haruki and Fiore, who worked in a grocers shop, recieved discounts on food, which helped them. They would make any purchases before heading over to wait the few minutes before Mamoru and Setsuna met them. Sets, as she had long ago been dubbed by Usagi, was now happy. She loved working at the cram school. The students were young prodigies, and she adored them. While he was alone at work in the evenings. He liked the solitude.

Mamoru usually met them all before they headed home together. With all the strange attacks in the city, he didn't want any of them traveling alone. He couldn't bear to lose anyone else.

As he got close he looked in through the windows and saw the others. Hotaru and Shingo were playing games. Haruki and Sets were sitting together talking. Minako was looking over her homework, while Kunzite stood over her shoulder, probably trying to help. Fiore was working on what looked to be homework, but he had his chin in his hand and was staring out the window instead of actually doing any of it.

Usagi was busy wiping down the tables that were now empty, and checking to make sure everything was in place. He steeled himself not to show his emotional response to her before he went inside. It was becoming harder and harder not to just tell her he was in love with her. He was so afraid he was going to lose her somehow. If he did, he was sure it would destroy him. With a sigh he entered the arcade, throwing on a smile he hoped everyone believed.

"Mamo!" Shingo and Hotaru both raced to him. He was glad they could still be a little carefree. "We have news!"

He looked over as Usagi approached. "The lawyer called. We got the building."

He grinned and picked her up. Usagi squealed, throwing her arms around his neck and laughed. "Mamo-chan you put me down right this minute!" she ordered, giggling. "I still have… seven minutes left on the clock," she said, looking at the read out above the counter.

Mamoru set her on her feet and steadied her when it looked like she might fall over backwards. She stared up at him, her blue eyes wide and full of emotion. He had the urge to kiss her but tamped it down. She'd never been kissed before, and he wouldn't steal that from her.

She moved away slowly, still staring at him. Shingo and Hotaru grabbed his hands and dragged him to one of the game stations, begging him to play with them. He couldn't help glancing at Usagi every few moments, wishing he could take her back into his arms.

"So," Haruki said, coming over to them, "what should we do to celebrate?"

"I was thinking we could make a cake," Hotaru said. "Maybe Sets can help me bake one."

Mamoru nodded. That was a great idea, as long as Minako and Usagi stayed away from the kitchen. "We should surprise Usagi with it," he said. "She's the one who did all the research and got the lawyer to agree."

"Good thinking," Haruki said. "And if it's a surprise, she wont cook."

Shingo snorted. "Thank kami," he whispered.

* * *

Fiore sighed as he opened the door to what would become his bedroom. The whole place was filthy, and they had a lot of work ahead of them. But Usagi had been right. They needed to be together. Trying to manage with two tiny apartments was a pain. Having one large space which was open and dedicated around a central living area was much better.

He went straight to the window and opened it, looking out onto the grounds. There was a small vegetable garden on one side, and to the other there were roses. He loved roses. Mamoru, when they were just small children, had once saved his life, but he'd known he would have to leave Earth anyways. So Mamoru had given him a rose, to say goodbye. The flower had originally been given to him by Usagi, who stormed out onto the roof as he was about to leave and refused to let him go.

He grinned at the memory. Usagi had always been insistent when it came to what she believed was right. She told them he had to stay longer, and though she'd been only three at the time, and had no idea why she thought the way she had, Fiore listened. And now, twelve years later, he was still here, often to be found with Mamoru, or Usagi, or both of them.

He pulled a roll of trash bags out of his pocket and began picking up some of the debris. They would have to go through the entire place from top to bottom before they could move in. The inspector said there was no mold though, and the wiring was good, so at least it was just cleaning and replacing the water heater. Some things were easier to do than others.

Besides, since they were replacing the heater, they'd gone for a bigger one that heated more quickly, and held more heated water at once. He was happy with the find. Though it was second hand, it suited their needs perfectly.

He just hoped he could keep the others safe in this new place better than he could in their old apartments. Even though it was only a three block difference, it was like another world. There were fewer attacks in this area. By their old apartment it was getting bad. Attacks several times a week, and people getting injured.

With a park close by, and the schools and their jobs within walking distance, they had everything they needed. He'd been unsure about being so close to the shopping district, but now that he worked over at the grocery store, he had to admit, being close to home at the end of a shift was a good thing.

Two birds, both crows, alighted on the branch of the cherry blossom tree in the middle of the grounds. They seemed to be staring at him, and he wondered why.

He was sure they were no ordinary crows.

"Its safe," he said, not yelling, and opened the window wider. There was a flutter of wings as the crows landed on the window-sill.

"Do you need help?" he asked. Both crows nodded their heads.

"Food? Water?" The response was negative.

"Are you lost?" There was a brief hesitation, but then they shook their heads.

"Is it someone else you want to help?" Emphatic nods followed his question.

"Are they being attacked?" The crows peered at each other. One of them almost seemed to shrug.

"Are they missing?" Another series of nods.

His mind whirled as he tried to discover what they needed from him. He couldn't do much. He'd been searching for eight missing kids most of his life, and hadn't gotten anywhere.

"Have they been gone long?" he asked.

There was a brief pause, and then one of the birds tapped her beak quite a few times.

"Days?" he asked, worried. The crow shook her head.

"Hours?" Another headshake.

"Years?" More nods followed.

"How many years?" He listened carefully this time, as the crow tapped twelve times on the windowsill.

"Twelve years?" he asked. "Was this person taken as a child?"

Another nod and a sad caw followed his question.

"I've been looking for eight children who were taken as children. I'm still searching, and the others who live here with me are helping. If you want, you can stay here with us while we try to find them." Fiore said, feeling sad. These birds obviously cared about one of the missing children. They weren't ordinary Earth animals, that much was certain.

The crows nodded and he turned to begin picking up more of the papers and other broken items that littered the floor. There was some furniture in each of the rooms, not much, but some, and he began to poke through the things in this one. Most of it would be moved to one of the unclaimed bedrooms.

"We have a bit of work to do for the next few days," he told the birds, "but I'll introduce you to the others soon."

) * O * (

Struggling with the heavy water heater, Kunzite grunted as he moved it into position. The old one was being lugged out by Mamoru and Fiore, and Haruki had stayed behind with Kunzite to get the new one in place before the repair man came to hook it up.

It had already been several days of cleaning, repairing simple things, and groundskeeping. Usagi and Mamoru were out in the garden. Kunzite had taken over most of the carpentry work. Setsuna had kicked everyone out of the kitchen to tend to it herself. Haruki was busy on the roof most of the time, and the younger ones were constantly running trash out to the dumpster.

Fiore and Minako were looking through all the odd bits of furniture left behind. Some they were planning to use. Other things were going into one of the rooms that would remain empty. Kunzite snorted.

He had finally convinced Minako and Usagi to try using separate bedrooms. He was surprised how much they had fought him on it. But if he was ever going to make his move on Minako, he didn't need her sister in the room when he did it. He was very aware that she was in love with him, probably almost as much as he was in love with her.

He sighed and finished positioning the heater. Haruki glanced at him then, and it was obvious the other teen was wondering what was on his mind.

"Can I ask you something?" Kunzite started, looking over at the red-haired young man, who had become a very close friend.

"Sure," Haruki shrugged.

"How long did it take for you and Sets to admit you had feelings for each other? Once you both noticed them, I mean."

Haruki chuckled. "Not long. I hesitated, because I didn't want to ruin our friendship, but once she noticed her own feelings she sat me down and told me how she felt and asked what we were going to do about it. So I kissed her."

Kunzite was a bit shocked. Sets was always a bit shy, except around Usagi and Haruki. He guessed it made perfect sense for her to be open with him, but he was still surprised at just how open she had been. Haruki kissing her wasn't shocking in the slightest.

"So, are you planning on telling Mina?" Haruki asked.

"Telling Mina what?" Mamoru came into the room and looked at them both. "That he's in love with her?"

Kunzite glared at his friend. "I'll probably tell her long before this one gets up the guts to tell Usagi he's in love with her," he mocked.

Mamoru glared at him. "She isn't ready," he insisted.

"When will she be ready, you think? Maybe when her hair is grey?" Kunzite asked, and wanted to laugh when Mamoru's jaw dropped.

"What, you think she's ready now?" he asked.

Haruki shrugged. "I think she and Minako are both grown up enough to know what they want. But if either of you hurt them I'll hunt you down and kill you." He turned and walked out of the room.

Kunzite and Mamoru shared a glance, and both shrugged. Neither of them would hurt the girls. Kunzite knew they loved them too much for that. He had to admit he was worried though. Mamoru was holding himself back by sheer will power. If he ever let that control slip, Usagi might find herself married with half a dozen children before she could blink.

"Can I just say something?" Kunzite murmured as they headed out of the basement.

Mamoru nodded, frowning a little.

"Be careful."

"Careful?" he looked puzzled, and Kunzite wanted to laugh. He supposed there were some things he had considered that his friend had not.

Slapping Mamoru on the shoulder, he said in a very serious tone, "wrap it."

Mamoru's eyebrows raised, and for a moment he looked shocked. Then he nodded and chuckled. "If she lets me get that far, I've got it covered. But I'm not ready to tell her just yet. Let things settle down first."

Kunzite shook his head. He planned to tell Minako soon after the move himself. Maybe it would be best to wait a few more days, just to give her a chance to breathe.

"Good idea."

) * O * (

Setsuna coughed as she cleaned the kitchen. It was huge, industrial sized, and had a separate dining area. She was very happy with it. She didn't care much for cooking, but if she had to, she preferred to do it in a modern kitchen. There was even a dishwasher, which made her want to dance for joy.

She sighed. She had been cleaning, working, and going to school for the past week. Exhaustion didn't even begin to cover it. She wanted a vacation. The girls had been busy for days, doing most of the last minute cleaning of their old apartments before they could finish the move. They would have to do a last run through of the old places.

But she had finally finished the kitchen, she thought. The ovens were difficult to clean out and she'd broken most of her fingernails in the process. She'd had to pull out the refrigerator and all the other appliances to clean behind them. And there had been enough dust bunnies to create a person if she'd been so inclined. She smiled at the thought.

Now she had to start loading dishes and food. That would probably take the entire day. It was a good thing they'd all been given the day off of school. She was still surprised the lawyer had agreed to call them all in sick. None of them had work that evening either. She was really grateful they could try and get everything done in a single shot.

She heard voices murmuring in the next room. Minako and Usagi's laughter echoed down the stairs, where they were putting things away in one of the bathrooms. Someone was stomping around in one of the bedrooms. The crows, who rarely came inside the building, were cawing out in the tree in the yard. It was nice to hear everyone's noises.

She only wished they could find the others. Her memories were coming back. They had been since she'd turned fifteen. She remembered the orphanage, and the green-haired lady who had saved her. She remembered being brought to stay with the others, and the way she had met them.

She was almost certain that the others were somehow related to them. She wasn't sure exactly how it worked, but she had the feeling that it was important. Who had taken them? Why had they been taken?

Haruki came into the kitchen and kissed her cheek. She turned and wrapped her arms around him. They'd been dating for several months now, and she wanted their relationship to progress to the next level. She was planning to take it one step at a time however, to make slow easy steps, because she wanted to make sure it was right.

"Wow, this looks amazing," Haruki said. He took out his phone and snapped a picture. Then he scrolled through his phone and showed her the before shots he had taken. "Look at the difference."

"Worked my butt off in here," she said, proud of what she had accomplished.

Haruki slid his hands down her back and grabbed her bottom. "I don't doubt you worked hard," he said, laughing. "But thankfully your butt is still there."

Setsuna grinned. He really was perfect for her. He made her laugh and brought her out of her shell a bit. Not to mention he was absolutely adorable with his fiery red hair and his emerald eyes. He had a smattering of freckles across his nose, and a tilt to his lips that suggested smiles were easy on his face. And they were. Plus, he had the hint of dimples left over from childhood.

"I love you Haruki," she whispered.

"I love you Setsuna," he whispered back. He bent and kissed her. She forgot where she was, and who she was, and anything except the texture of his lips and the feeling of his hands on her back. Kissing him was heaven.

) * O * (

Hotaru was happy. She was pretty sure the cleaning was done, and she was really grateful for that. They had been working for a week, and she and Shingo had been doing a lot of the little things. It could be a bit frustrating at times to be told what to do all the time.

Shingo carried a load of boxes inside. He was helping the guys get everything loaded into the building. She and the other girls were doing most of the unpacking.

"I think that one goes in the kitchen," she told him. They'd used smaller boxes for plates and things because they were so heavy.

"Thanks," he said, and moved on.

Hotaru shifted her weight and continued unpacking the books. They'd set up one of the smaller living spaces downstairs as a library. She'd never realized how many books and manga they all had between them. They'd had to gather a couple of the bookshelves that had already been in the building.

She was beginning to wonder if they would end up using all the furniture in some way or another. There were spare bed frames, dressers, cupboards, and so many other things she hadn't even had a chance to discover the use of.

Hotaru was sure she was going to like living in the big old building that had so much character. There was more space, but that wasn't the reason. It was like the place was meant for them. Almost like it had been waiting for them to find it.

Fiore came down the stairs and went outside, and a moment later Shingo came out from the kitchen and followed him. She watched as they dragged in the work out mats, carrying them to the stairs that led down into the basement level. They were setting up a place to work on their self defense and their martial arts. She was happy with that. Dragging the mats over the living room and folding them back up had been annoying.

She smiled at Usagi, who had dashed down the stairs, a crow on each shoulder. "What are you doing?" Hotaru asked her.

"Escaping from Minako. I'm pretty sure she's sung the same four lines of the same song a million times." Usagi groaned dramatically and threw herself down into one of the cushy chairs. "We've spent the last week in those bathrooms and she loves the acoustics in there. The way the sound just bounces off the walls just right. We all know she has a beautiful voice, but I'm never going to get that song out of my head."

Hotaru laughed. "Well, you hum in your sleep apparently. Minako said you do."

Usagi nodded. "I know. It's this old tune I hear in my dreams. Sometimes I guess I just hum along with it." A minute later she went outside to help carry the boxes inside.

She was surprisingly strong, especially given she was only two inches taller than Hotaru herself. At four-nine, she was very short, and a bit too thin. But she had really pretty hair and eyes so Hotaru guessed height didn't matter. The boys all looked at her. Not that Usagi ever noticed. She only had eyes for Mamoru.

She hid a giggle behind her hand as Mamoru chased her inside, trying to take the box she carried. He was in love with Usagi just as much as Usagi was in love with him. It was sort of cute. She just wished he would kiss her already, then she could stop watching them torture themselves.

It wasn't hard to figure out that Kunzite and Minako were in love either. Or Haruki and Setsuna, though they were more open about it since they'd talked to each other.

She had a secret of her own, so she understood. She thought she might be falling for Shingo just as hard as the others were falling for their guys. She wasn't ready to deal with it just yet. Besides, she wasn't even a teenager yet, and Setsuna said she couldn't date until she was.

* * *

Usagi was not prepared for the attack. She had just turned the corner, on her way to work with Mina, when the monster appeared. It was as though all of her nightmares became reality in a single second as she watched the thing drain another teenager who had been headed in the same direction.

She wanted to scream. She wanted to run. Instead, she froze, staring at the creature. And then a strange feeling came over her. Something told her she had to do more. When her feet began to move Minako was with her, step for step, as though they'd planned it between them. Together they raced at the creature. Usagi slammed into it from behind, pushing it away from the teenager.

"Run," she screamed. The teenager, weakened by the attack, stood on wobbly legs, and tottered away at a shumbling sprint, calling for help.

Minako and Usagi each held on to the monster, unwilling to let it follow the boy. There was a strange glow between them and Usagi felt herself being drained. She had to do something.

"Mina!" she shouted as her sister began to fall. And then she was falling too. But she latched onto the monster with all her might, wishing for it to die, to cease to exist. The monster disappeared from her grip and she coughed as a strange dust filled the air. She it the ground hard, and bounced, landing next to Minako. Her sister reached for her hand.

"You killed it," she whispered, but Usagi barely heard her. Eyes closing, she slipped away.

) * O * (

Mamoru paced. Usagi and Minako were both being released. Kabayashi-san was signing the release documents, and then they could take the girls home. According to the doctor, neither had suffered greatly. Somehow they were both recovering much more quickly than anyone else who had been attacked.

His heart still ached. When he'd come around the corner to see Minako shouting for Usagi to wake up, he felt like he was going to explode. He didn't know how he'd been able to sense something was wrong, but he had, and he was more grateful than he could say. But learning they had not only been attacked, but that they had run toward the creature filled him with a mixture of anger and dread.

He couldn't lose them. Neither one of them. But if he lost Usagi… He knew that if she died he wouldn't survive her long. It was like knowing he breathed air, or that water was wet. It just was. He couldn't survive without her. She was his everything. And she didn't even know it.

The two blondes came out, fully dressed again, thankfully. Those paper gowns had been far too revealing. He'd never realized just how long Usagi's legs were. She was so short it didn't make sense for her to have those long shapely legs. He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. Instead he focused on his anger. On his rage that they had gotten hurt in the first place.

This was not the place for the discussion, but he glared at both of them, and watched as they shrunk. Though Minako wasn't looking at him, but at Kunzite, who was sitting in one of the chairs behind him. He'd forgotten he was there.

The others were all watching quietly. As soon as they got home, Mamoru intended to find out just what the two of them thought they were doing. He moved forward, Kunzite right beside him, and as his friend gathered Minako up, he found himself holding Usagi tightly. He wanted to weep in gratitude that she was alright.

The others gathered around the four of them, and suddenly they were in a very large, slightly loud, partly sobbing hug. Hotaru was crying loudly, and Setsuna was weeping over both of them. Mamoru however, couldn't cry. He was beyond tears.

They eventually broke apart and headed for the train. Minako and Usagi both paused, not wanting to go in, but he and Kunzite dragged them. He never could understand why they didn't like trains. He knew they would rather walk five miles than take one, but they were both so exhausted, they couldn't manage it. So they moved into one corner and huddled together.

The ride was fast, and they got home quickly. Mamoru entered the security code and unlocked the door. He waited until both girls were on the couch and opened his mouth to berate them, but Kunzite spoke first.

"What the hell did you two think you were doing!? Running towards one of those monsters is the stupidest thing either of you have ever done!" He was panting with exertion by the time he finished those two short sentences.

"Did you even think about what would happen to the rest of us if we lost you?" Mamoru screamed. "Didn't you care?" Suddenly he wasn't angry anymore, because Usagi was crying, her hands over her face, rocking back and forth.

He leapt to her side and gathered her into his arms. She was whispering, "I'm sorry," over and over, and he felt like the worst kind of jerk imaginable.

"It was instinctive," Minako was whispering to Kunzite, who was next to her on the couch now, holding her tightly. "We just sort of… moved. We didn't even think about it. It was like we were one mind for just a second."

"What do you mean?" Mamoru asked.

Usagi sniffled. "We moved like a team," she said. "Like we'd done it a thousand times before. It wasn't even a conscious decision. We just moved."

"And then Usagi killed it." Minako glared at Kunzite for a moment, and then wilted.

"Wait," Fiore came over to them. "Did you say Usagi killed the monster?"

There were gasps around the room. Fiore had killed a few of them, but none of the others had ever been close enough. Minako nodded though, and the others stared.

"I knew it. Don't you remember how she healed me?" he asked. Mamoru did remember. He hadn't for a long time. His memories had become clearer however, since he'd turned fifteen. He still couldn't remember anything before the accident, but he remembered the hospital, and everything that had happened there.

"I think there's more to Usagi than meets the eye," Mamoru said, and he rested his head on hers.

* * *

 **D Point - The Arctic Circle - Dark Kingdom (Negaverse)**

* * *

Rei wanted to howl in frustration. Another Youma had mysteriously disappeared. That made a total of seven. She had no idea what had happened to them, but she was sure to be punished for it. She sighed, wondering what she was going to do.

Jadeite wrapped his arms around her. "It'll be okay," he said. "There has to be someone out there fighting them or something. We'll just find whoever it is and destroy them. Problem solved."

Rei nodded, but they both knew it wasn't that simple. There was a price for failure. Always a price. And sometimes it seemed too high a price to pay.

She didn't remember much of her life. In fact, she had only snippets. Waking up in the Dark Kingdom when she was young and watching someone get punished for failure. Being put into the chamber. Waking again at thirteen to be trained as a Dark General. It wasn't the happiest life. But it was hers, and she wanted to keep it.

"We have to track them down soon," Rei said, walking towards the throne room. Being punished was awful, but it was ten times worse if you didn't present yourself for it.


	3. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:  
** My Original Characters (OC) and Altered Characters (AC)  
(All information is in my profile)  
Haruki (OC) - Sun Knight  
Shingo (AC) - Blue Moon Knight  
Kunzite (AC) - North Knight (to separate civilian identity)

* * *

 **Unknown Force:  
** **Quest for the Crystals**

* * *

 _Chapter Two_

* * *

 **Tokyo Japan**

* * *

"Odango, you up yet?" Mamoru asked, poking his head into her room. And found himself staring at Usagi, who was only half dressed, her breasts bare to his vision. She squealed and covered herself with her school blouse.

"Knock first!" she huffed, blushing wildly.

Mamoru blushed and covered his eyes. "S-sorry. I- I just w-wanted to l-let you know we're leaving to take Shingo and Hotaru to school," he stammered, unable to make himself calm down. His blood was rushing in his ears, and his heart beat wildly.

"Okay. Is Mina up yet?"

"Uh... um, yeah. She and Kunzite are talking in the kitchen. She's a bit upset."

"Why?" Usagi asked.

Mamoru wasn't sure what, if anything, to tell her. She would find out soon enough on her own of course, but he hated to be the bearer of bad news. He sighed. It was best to prepare her for it now.

"There was an article about you two. I guess the teenager you saved ran and told people, and some person got a few pictures. It's not the nicest thing anyone has ever written, to be honest."

He stared at the floor, wondering if she was dressed yet. He hadn't meant to see her without her clothing. His face was still flushed with the aftereffects. She was absolutely gorgeous. He wanted to rush into her room and kiss her senseless. He would never be able to look at her the same way again.

"Thanks Mamo. I'm uh… decent now."

Mamoru dropped his hand and stared at her. But he couldn't erase the image of her breasts from his mind. He continued to blush and backed out of the room, trying to tell himself he wasn't wishing he had seen more.

"I have to go. Just call us if you need anything, okay?"

Usagi nodded and Mamoru fled. There was no other word for it. He had to get away from her before he did something that would make her slap him. Berating himself for his thoughts, Mamoru ran down the stairs and met up with the others. Kunzite came out of the kitchen, and he could hear an angry, crying Minako still inside.

"It's not right," Kunzite growled. "No one stands up and helps other people anymore. The first people who do get treated like crap for it."

"I know," Mamoru murmured. People in Tokyo were different than he remembered from his earlier years. When they had first moved to the city most people had been respectful and quiet, but always willing to help out a neighbor. Now it was rare to find a decent person.

He thought, as he had many times before, that it had something to do with the monsters roaming the city. Fiore pushed him towards the door, urging him to hurry, muttering about 'damage control.'

He heaved a sigh and let himself be herded out, wishing he could stay home with Usagi and keep her safe. She was everything to him. His little Odango Atama. He grinned at the memory. He hadn't really teased her in a long time. He remembered some of their funnier sparing matches. They had pretty much stopped after the monster had killed her parents and his adoptive parents. There hadn't been much to joke about then.

Now, he wondered if there ever would be again.

) * O * (

There was a strange pile of shattered glass alongside four circular, thin metal pieces. Usagi grabbed Minako's arm and carefully maneuvered around them. Her sister was busy staring at the newspaper article they'd found that day. They were running late for school, and Usagi knew if they ended up late they would both get detention, so she hurried Minako along, almost wishing they could take the day off.

"Usagi, this is just…" Minako sighed and handed the article over. Usagi took it, glancing down at the page. A picture of the two of them arriving at the hospital, thankfully blurry and from a distance, covered most of the page.

 _ **Brave Heroes or Unwitting Victims  
**_ _Reports have come in about two young ladies who attempted to save a teenaged victim from one of the strange creatures plaguing our city, only to be caught by the creature themselves and end up in the hospital for treatment…_

It was not a flattering article. Not in the slightest. In fact, it was so unflattering, that Usagi had refused to finish reading it that morning. Now, she crumpled up the page and stuffed it in her bag. "Look Mina, I don't really care what the article says. We did what we thought was right."

Minako looked up and nodded. "You're right. It was the right thing." She sighed. "But it doesn't matter how much we do the right thing, we always seem to get punished for it."

Usagi smiled. It was true. She heard cruel laughter around the corner and looked into an empty parking lot. Seven boys, around twelve or so by the look of it, were holding down two cats, one black, one white, tying them up and putting tape on their bodies.

Minako and Usagi exchanged a look and both ran screaming at the kids, who scattered instantly, though once they realized it was just two teenage girls, they began to form a circle around them. Usagi and Minako already had the cats however, and they both dashed away as quickly as they could. A shadow broke away from the corner of a wall and followed after.

Habitually late, both had often dashed to school at the last possible second, arriving just before the bell. Now they took the same route, hurrying to their school with the cats gathered in their arms. For several moments she heard the slapping footsteps of the boys behind them, but they quickly outdistanced them. The shadow, which had been following them, slowed, and turned back. There was a chilling sound of laughter as it returned to the boys.

Usagi and Minako ran straight for the nurses office. Unfortunately, both cats had silvery duct tape stuck to their fur, and it wasn't something the girls wanted to try and remove on their own. Band-Aids covered their foreheads, and there was string tied around their feet.

Ikeda Akemi, the school nurse, looked up in surprise when the girls rushed inside.

In Usagi's arms was a little black ball of fur. Minako held a white one. They had cats. Young adults. Barely passed kitten hood.

"Oh kami! What happened to them?" Akemi asked.

"A bunch of mean boys," Usagi said, panting. She wanted to break down into tears as she placed the little black cat on the exam table. "Please, please help us. We couldn't just leave them there."

"Calm down, both of you," the nurse said, and Usagi realized Minako was crying. She clutched at the white cat, and Usagi had to talk her into laying him next to the other one.

"What do we do?" Usagi asked.

"Can we help?" Minako asked.

"Alright, first let me get a pair of scissors so I can cut this string." Akemi frowned down at the cats and blinked angry tears away.

Usagi watched as she cut the strings tying the black cat's legs, then did the same for the white one. She carefully peeled the Band-aids off their foreheads, and then went to work on the tape. In some places she had to cut their fur a bit to get the tape off.

Both cats yowled in misery. Minako sobbed each time one of the felines howled. Though Usagi cried too she focused on talking continuously, telling both cats it would be over soon, and that they were safe.

"They'll have to stay here while you go to class" the nurse informed them.

"Oh, no!" Usagi gasped. "Haruna-sensei will be so angry we were late!"

The nurse wrote them a note and sent them off, promising to call their teacher and let her know what had happened.

) * O * (

Haruna-sensei frowned when the nurse called her classroom. She'd already marked the girls as absent, not realizing they were at the school already. She frowned even harder as she listened to the story. Two cats, rescued by two young girls. She sighed.

Those same girls had rescued a fellow teenager from one of those strange monsters that were popping up everywhere. And had gotten hospitalized for their troubles. Part of her wanted to be angry with them. Putting themselves in danger wasn't a good idea. But she might have done the same thing. Especially to help a child or a helpless animal. She sighed.

Usagi and Minako hurried into the classroom and took their seats. Almost instantly the jeers and hisses began from the other students. She shook her head. Something was very wrong with the people of Tokyo. The girls had only been trying to help, and somehow they had become the enemy to their peers.

There was really nothing she could do to stop the other students. In the past she had tried to reason with people, but it no longer seemed possible. Some of the citizens of Tokyo could be frightening and cruel. She wished she knew what to do.

) * O * (

Shadar looked at the group of young boys. They had been interesting to watch. He hadn't had to brainwash them into behaving badly. They'd done that all on their own.

Now however, he had an interesting idea. Long ago, twelve years in fact, Queen Beryl had sent him on the hunt for those girls, and the others like them. He had destroyed the families, as ordered. All that was left was to take those the Queen wanted to the Negaverse. She was most interested in the princess. One of those blondes was the princess. He didn't know which, so he would take them both.

First he had to incapacitate them. Their crystals protected them from his form of magic, but those boys had no such protection. He filled the boys with anger at the two girls and set them loose. By the time those girls left the safety of their school the boys would have been whipped into a frenzy, pulling others in with them because the anger would spread to those exposed.

With a cackling laugh he slipped into the nearest shadow to watch. The boys didn't go to their own school. They were younger than the others. Sixth graders, he thought. He had learned much of the humans in his time fulfilling Queen Beryl's task for him.

He needed to take the princess to her. He smiled. Soon, he knew, he would finally fulfill his mission.

) * O * (

Naru and Umino knew something was up with their friends. In hushed whispers they asked what had happened. Minako told them the whole story and Naru gasped in shock. How anyone could be cruel to an animal she would never understand.

It had been hard to believe Usagi and Minako had chased a monster away the day before, but Naru was starting to think there was more to her best friends than met the eye. She and Umino exchanged a glance, and she nodded.

"Just be careful," she whispered. "I don't want you two getting hurt."

Usagi and Minako nodded. They were both trying to ignore the other students in the classroom, some of whom were saying mean things about them. One student said anyone that got involved with the monsters was a hazard to be around and she didn't want to share a classroom with them.

Usagi looked like she was on the verge of tears, and Minako looked angry and hurt. It wasn't fair that they were being treated so horribly for trying to do the right thing. Naru put a hand on each of their shoulders in silent support. There wasn't much else she could do.

) * O * (

Minako tugged at Usagi's arm until it was nearly painful, pulling her to the nurse's office in short tugs. Usagi was trying to make sure her homework was in her bag, a little briefcase that had one handle on it, which she held with one hand as she slid things inside the zippered pocket.

"Hold on!" Usagi growled.

She was frustrated. She couldn't afford to miss out on any work. The whole day had been a nightmare. People had teased her and Minako both because of their actions. Some, like Naru and Umino, had stood up for them, while others ignored them completely or said they didn't want to be near troublemakers.

Usagi couldn't understand. She'd really believed she and Minako had done the right thing trying to help the other teenager. Now they were facing jeers and the cold shoulder from people she had long thought to be their friends. It didn't make any sense.

Haruna-sensei had seemed to be on the fence. She said nothing about their actions, and didn't join in the teasing, but neither had she stopped the other students from telling them how stupid they were to run toward danger. With a sigh she finished tucking her homework in her bag and she and Minako ran for the nurse.

The two cats, who had been sleeping in a cardboard box until they arrived, leapt for the girls. The little black one purred, hugged now by Usagi, while the white one went immediately for Minako. After a moment the two felines climbed to their shoulders, as though they had been perching there forever. Usagi giggled.

"Do you think the others will mind us bringing them home?" Minako asked as they said goodbye to the nurse and headed out of the office. "I want to keep him safe. People in this city are going crazy."

"I'm sure they won't mind," Usagi soothed. "I want to keep her safe as well." Usagi wasn't sure how she would explain. She was afraid Mamoru would yell at her again.

Leaving the school, Minako and Usagi spent time talking to and soothing both felines. They giggled as they discussed possible names and the strange marking each had on their heads.

As they left school grounds however, they found themselves faced with the same group of boys who had been tormenting the cats. Some of them seemed to have objects like empty bottles in their hands. Others held rocks, still others pipes and rebar. There were more than the original seven. Now the group was comprised of thirteen boys, all of whom looked ready to inflict serious damage.

Facing the group of younger teenagers was a challenge, as they had formed a circle around the two girls and their feline companions. Usagi turned to look in every direction, her back meeting Minako's as they both stared around themselves in horror. There was something wrong. Very wrong.

"What are we going to do?" Usagi asked, her voice shaking. She felt her knees tremble as the fear overwhelmed her.

"I don't know. Can you heal them the way you destroyed the monster thing?"

"Um, I would if I knew how I did it," Usagi said, her voice rising in anxiety.

There was a strange half-cough and then the black cat on Usagi's shoulder spoke. "Take this Usagi," she whispered and did a backflip, landing perfectly back on the shoulder she had launched herself from. A strange brooch landed lightly in Usagi's palm and she immediately wrapped her fingers around it.

"Now," the cat said, "say Moon Prism Power Make Up." Usagi listened carefully. The white cat seemed to be giving Minako instructions along the same lines.

"Moon Prism Power, Make Up!" Usagi yelled. She rose off the ground, her body twirling as her clothing melted away replaced by ribbons that formed a white fuka with a blue skirt. She felt other items forming. Earrings, a choker, gloves and boots, and strange round hair pieces.

The group of boys started moving in toward them and without thinking, her mouth opened. "I am the pretty guardian of love and justice…"

) * O * (

Minako held the pen in the air and repeated the phrase. She could hear her sister doing the same.

"Venus Power, Make Up!" she cried. A second later she was lifted into the air, spinning slowly surrounded by a ribbon of stars as her clothing melted away and was replaced by a white fuku with a short orange skirt.

Minako could hear Usagi speaking, "... and in the name of the Moon, I'll punish you."

Unable to help herself she began to speak as well. "I am the pretty guardian Sailor Venus. Allow me to punish you with the power of love!" She frowned at the strange phrase, but focused on helping her sister.

The boys had begun throwing rocks and glass bottles, which shattered on the pavement as the two girls ducked and dodged.

"You have to destroy the Youma." The white cat said. "Hurry. Those boys are under some sort of enchantment. They won't be released until you kill the Youma!"

"Your tiara," she heard the black cat tell her sister.

Minako held a strange weapon. It was two crescent moons, connected along their backs. She wasn't sure how she knew, but she thought she remembered.

"Venus Crescent Beam," she said. The little item flew through the air, glowing brightly, spinning slowly as it headed for the strange shadowy form.

) * O * (

Mamoru and Kunzite were walking home. Kunzite was frowning, looking down at a copy of the news article on the girl's attempted rescue. Setsuna and Haruki were at the library studying. The younger ones would be meeting them at the Crown with Fiore, who had left school early. So it was just himself and Kunzite, walking alone. Kunzite huffed under his breath as he read a particularly scathing remark.

In all honesty, they'd saved that teenager, and survived being drained. Plus, Mamoru reminded himself, they had destroyed the monster in the end. That didn't stop the annoyance, even anger, he still felt that they had put themselves in danger. But only the other teens who loved them and cared about them had a right to get on their cases about it. The truth was, they'd done what they thought was right.

"Put that away," he growled.

"Do you think their classmates were okay with them today?" Kunzite asked.

"I doubt it," Mamoru told him, and he realized his fists were clenched in anger.

A sharp pain in his head startled Mamoru. He nearly fell to the ground in agony. Kunzite was groaning beside him. Together the two of them made their way out of pedestrian traffic and into an alleyway. Mamoru felt heat near his heart, and a fear that was not his own.

A moment later a rose had appeared from nothingness in his hand. With a sharp downward motion he suddenly changed. There was a brief flash of light and he was able to stand again, the pain gone, but the warmth in his chest felt like a tug, and the pull grew.

"Usagi," he whispered, somehow knowing the feeling of her fear as well as he knew his own. He took a step forward and found himself staring at a very changed Usagi and Minako.

) * O * (

Kunzite felt like his head was going to explode. He stared at Mamoru, at the changes that had occurred. He stood in the alleyway, now dressed in a black tuxedo and a black cape with red lining. And then his friend disappeared. He simply stepped forward, and he was gone.

Kunzite looked back and forth, but he could feel a pull deep within himself. He snapped his fingers and a moment later he had changed himself. He felt the power surge through him, and a deep warmth before his heart. He felt fear, somehow not his fear. He too stepped forward, and then he was in the midst of battle.

He knew right away who the two Sailor Suited Warriors were. Minako, the love of his life, and Usagi, her sister, had changed somehow. They stood shoulder to shoulder, both throwing glowing weapons, not at the boys, but at a strange monster made entirely of shadow.

Mamoru was standing above him, atop the fence that ran around the school. He pulled a strange scepter from somewhere, and the tip glowed. His other hand was pulling rose after rose from nowhere. They seemed to pop into existence at his whim. He was throwing them at the feet of the boys that had surrounded their soulmates. When a rose hit the ground, the boy it landed near fell, eyes closed.

Kunzite stretched out his hands. He didn't know what he was doing, but suddenly there was a bright light escaping from his palms and flying toward the shadow creature.

"Moon Twilight Flash!" Usagi screamed.

Mamoru let out a call of his own. "Tuxedo la Smoking Bomber!" he yelled.

Kunzite couldn't stop his own mouth as he too yelled out a cry. "Joyful Light!"

Minako's voice echoed out just after his. "Venus Love Me Chain Encircle!"

A glowing yellow chain caught the shadow monster and it was pulled towards her and Usagi. Usagi stepped forward and threw the tiara she pulled off her forehead. "Moon Tiara Action!" she screamed, and he watched as it flew true, spinning round and round as it flew towards the monster. It passed through what must have been the creature's neck.

When it cut through there was a strange dust on the air as the creature disintegrated.

"What was that?" asked a voice from the other side of the fence.

Kunzite saw Usagi and Minako exchange glances with each other. It was their patented 'twin look.' He moved to stand in front of them, catching their unease.

"It was a monster. It was using those kids to cause problems."

He recognized the woman. It was the girl's teacher. He hoped she didn't recognize them.

"Well, whoever you are, than you for saving them," the woman said, and brushed her auburn hair back behind her shoulder.

"I think these kids need help," Mamoru said, leaping down to stand beside Usagi.

"I called emergency services already," the woman told him. "And the nurse is on her way. You guys might want to get a little ways away," she added, nodding to a crowd of onlookers, some of whom had cell phones in hand, taking videos.

Kunzite nodded and grabbed Minako, stepping out onto a roof across the street. A moment later Mamoru and Usagi appeared beside them. For the first time he noticed that Usagi and Minako each had a cat on their shoulder. He wondered what had happened to make so many changes happen so quickly.

) * O * (

Sailor Moon glared at Tuxedo Kamen, frustrated and annoyed. He raised his eyebrows, unsure what it was he had done wrong.

"What?" he asked.

"It's not fair," she said, her eyes traveling from the slick dress shoes, up the slacks of his tuxedo and over his fully dressed form. "You two get to be covered while we have to run around in mini-skirts!"

Minako nodded. "It isn't right," she insisted. "Lets trade!"

North Knight looked at Tuxedo Kamen and they shared a frightened look. There was no way either of them would be caught in those mini skirts.

"You look nice?" Tuxedo Kamen said, but he knew it sounded more like a question than anything.

"Aww, I think we scared them," Venus whispered in Sailor Moon's ear. Moon giggled, unable to help herself.

"Alright you four, we need to get out of public eye, and quickly," said the white cat. Venus bent and picked him up.

) * O * (

Shingo stared up at the television above the counter in the Crown Game Center.

"Oh Kami!" he breathed, full of shock. A news alert was being broadcast. "Motoki, can you turn that up please?" he asked, moving closer to the counter so he could see and hear better.

There was video footage of two girls in fuka with colorful skirts, as well as two guys, one in a tuxedo and the other in a grey-white uniform of some sort, fighting a Youma, while trying to keep a pack of boys at bay.

The news anchor was speaking, "... much was heard, but bystanders claimed the one in the blue skirt is Moon something and the one with the orange skirt is Venus. There is no word on who the others are, and their faces are hidden by those domino masks. Police Chief Maruyama had this to say."

The screen changed to what looked like a press conference.

"We cannot condone vigilante justice in Tokyo. While we applaud anyone who is able to escape one of the strange creatures that has been plaguing the city, we saw yesterday just how dangerous that could be. Two teenagers were injured trying to assist another girl, and both ended up hospitalized. So I say again, if you see one of these monsters, stay away from it. Far away. Don't go near it. Don't try to fight it. Run."

The news anchor's face reappeared. "There you have it. As we've been telling people since these attacks first started, the police ask everyone to stay away. Don't get involved."

Another picture appeared on the screen. "In other news, the city has condemned the Hikawah Jinja property, and has plans to begin demolishing the structure early next year…"

Shingo turned away, and he heard the click as Motoki turned off the television.

"Hey Shingo. It's okay. I still say Usagi and Mina did the right thing."

"They did," Shingo said absently.

Something about the four fighters on the screen had drawn him. It was as though he knew them. As though he were supposed to fight with them. He turned and met Hotaru's eyes. Fiore, who was just coming inside, nodded to him, and waved him over to one of the booths in the back.

"Was that them?" Shingo asked. "Usagi and Minako? Kunzite and Mamoru?" It had certainly felt like them.

Fiore nodded. "I'm thinking we should get home as soon as we can. I think they'll probably go straight there. Setsuna and Haruki are on their way. Should be here in just a minute. You ready?"

Shingo nodded and he saw Hotaru doing the same.

"I think we're supposed to join them," Hotaru whispered. "I feel like I'm being… called, maybe."

Shingo couldn't have agreed more.

) * O * (

Phobos and Deimos met them at the door, cawing and flapping their wings as the group entered. Fiore nodded to them and told them the others would soon return. They went to the perch in the dining room he had purchased for them and settled down to wait.

Shingo and Hotaru moved into the dining room automatically. Their evening chore was to set the table. Haruki and Setsuna entered the kitchen. Neither exactly enjoyed cooking, but they had enough skill so the rest of them didn't starve.

Fiore checked the phone. There were several messages from a few newpapers and magazines that wanted to interview Usagi and Minako. He deleted them without a second thought. The girls didn't need that sort of publicity, especially now. He took out the trash and watered their assortment of indoor plants before joining the others. They were all in the kitchen now. Shingo and Hotaru sat on stools along the long counter, and he pulled one up as well.

"They'll be back in a few minutes I think," he said.

Setsuna nodded, looking anxious nevertheless.

There was a commotion in the living room, and a loud giggle sounded. He heard Usagi's voice coming from the room and rushed out to find them clustered together.

"I think you forgot about the table," Minako was saying as she moved off the splintered piece of furniture.

"You have to be absolute in your mind about exactly where you want to go," said a male voice, coming from Minako's direction. Fiore's jaw dropped open a little. Crows that were smart… that wasn't so far fetched. But talking cats on the other hand. Then again, he was an alien, one originally birthed by a tree if what he remembered was right. He couldn't judge.

"I did think about it. I just forgot the table," Kunzite growled.

Usagi was still giggling, clinging to Mamoru.

"What's up with her?" Fiore asked.

"I think it's a reaction to stress," came the voice of the little black cat on her shoulder. This one was obviously female. "I'm Luna. That's Artemis. The girls saved us today, and then…" she trailed off as the others came into the room.

"Dinner is ready," Setsuna said. "I cheated a bit and just made leftovers. Come on. We want to hear all about it."

"Can we eat first?" Minako whined. "Patience is a virgin."

There was a moment of shocked silence, and then one by one everyone in the room started to laugh, except for Shingo, who had avoided classes on sex education by pretending he was sick.

"Virtue," Kunzite explained, sounding like he was choking. "Patience is a virtue."

The laughter, and blushing, eventually died down. Usagi, who seemed calm now, slipped into the kitchen and returned with bowls of tuna for the cats and set them at one end of the long table. There was plenty of room around it for everyone as they had decided when they purchased it that they wanted room for the others, who Usagi and Minako insisted they would still find somehow.

As they ate, there was a tense silence, broken only by the sound of forks across plates, or teeth scraping over silverware. The sound of cups touching back to the table, or of Shingo, who always breathed loudly, in Fiore's opinion, through his nose when he ate.

Finally everyone seemed to have finished eating and he sped around the table collecting plates and silverware, but leaving the cups and the two pitchers of juice and the teapot. He brought them into the kitchen and rinsed them quickly before putting them in the dishwasher.

When he had reached the table again there was a long moment of silence as everyone settled in to hear the story.

"So, what happened?" Hotaru asked impatiently after what seemed to Fiore to be an eternity.

"Well, this morning Usagi and I found these cats being tormented by a group of boys. The same ones I think, that were teasing you and Shingo that time," Minako told the younger girl. "It was awful," she added with a shudder.

"Their legs were tied up, and they had silver tape all over them, and Band-Aids on their foreheads," Usagi added. "We brought them to the school nurse, and she helped us."

"And then, after school, this group of boys surrounded us. But it wasn't just the boys from this morning. There were more of them, and they looked like they wanted to really hurt us."

Mamoru growled, "they had glass bottles and long pieces of metal to hit them with."

Fiore shuddered. The people of Tokyo were losing it.

"And then the next thing I know," Usagi said, "Luna starts talking, telling me what to do. Except it was almost like I already knew. I said my name was Sailor Moon and I was there to punish them, but I knew it wasn't really them I needed to punish. It was the Youma."

"Youma?" Setsuna asked. "You mean they really are demons?"

"Sort of," Artemis explained from his place next to his black counterpart. "They're created to be demonlike. There are real demons out there of course, and you may see them eventually, but we call them Youma because thats what the Negaverse calls them."

"Negaverse?" Haruki was frowning. "Why does all of this seem so familiar?" he asked, rubbing his forehead.

It didn't seem familiar to Fiore. He was beginning to suspect that they must have all fought the Negaverse in the past somehow, though he wasn't sure how it was possible. He wished he could find out. He was thankful however, that he wouldn't have to fight the strange creatures, Youma, he reminded himself, alone anymore. He could rarely defeat them, and when he did it wore him out dangerously.

"Anyways," Minako said, "I was listening to Artemis, who gave me this cool pen and told me what to say. And I became Sailor Venus, and it was like I had been fighting my whole life, which was pretty awesome."

"Kunzite and I were on our way back when we both seemed to get hit with…" he frowned.

"Pain," Kunzite interjected. "A severe pain, in the head. But there was also a warm feeling, near the heart, and a fear that something precious was about to be taken away." He sounded almost forelorn.

"And then I became Tuxedo Kamen, and he became North Knight," Mamoru finished. "And when I stepped forward, intending to get to Usagi, I disappeared from the alley I was in and ended up at the battle scene. I jumped up onto the fence around the school, and I was throwing flowers."

"Roses," Usagi added. "And whenever one landed near one of the boys they fell asleep."

"Everything seemed to happen without thinking about it," Kunzite said with a frown. "I just lifted my hands and spoke." The other three were nodding.

"That's because all of you were the guardians of the Solar System in your past lives." Luna paced back and forth along the end of the table. "Sailor Moon, the princess of the moon. Sailor Venus, the princess of Venus."

"Tuxedo Kamen however, you aren't in your normal form. And honestly, neither is Sailor Moon. You two are being hidden. The moon princess wasn't a Senshi. She was in the beginning stages of being trained to use the silver crystal, which we have to find and protect. While the Earth prince was being trained to use the Golden Crystal. And while he was a warrior as well as a prince, it was with a sword, not with the crystal, which was only used as a weapon as a last resort. He was also being trained to use it." The cat was wearing a very humanlike frown.

"The prince had four protectors," Luna said, frowning, "as did the princess."

"Well, then we are definitely missing some people," said Haruki. He stood and a moment later he was wearing different clothing as a bright light enveloped him. He had on a yellow tunic covered in armor of yellows, golds, oranges, and reds that moved with him like a second skin. A sword rested at his hip. "I'm the Sun Knight."

Setsuna frowned. Luna tossed something to her and she looked carefully at it before raising it into the air. "Pluto Planet Power Make Up," she said, her voice quiet but firm. There was a strange mist around her as her clothing disappeared to be replaced with a white fuka and a dark black skirt. In her hand a long staff appeared. At the top was a heart with a red sphere inside.

Hotaru stood as well, and recieved her own item. "Saturn Planet Power, Make Up!" she cried and a ball of light appeared as she revolved. A glaive appeared in her hand as she continued to revolve, and a moment later she was also in a white fuka, with a purple skirt.

Shingo finally stood. He closed his eyes and then a moment later there was a flash of light as a silvery white outfit appeared on him. Blue and silver armor covered his chest and a sword appeared at his side. He also had a strange white scepter with a piece at the end that looked as though something were supposed to be placed there. "I'm Blue Moon Knight," he mumbled, blushing.

Fiore couldn't help raising his eyebrows at the others, who sat watching. Minako sighed and stood, holding up something that looked like a pen. She said "Venus Power, Make Up," and a moment later she was surrounded by a ribbon of stars as her clothing melted away and was replaced with a white fuku and bright orange skirt.

Usagi was already standing and holding a brooch. "Moon Prism Power, Make Up," she cried out, and ribbons surrounded her, seeming to explode from the brooch and encircle her as a pink light enveloped her form when her own clothing disolved to be replaced by a white fuku and blue skirt.

Kunzite stepped over to Sailor Venus, and standing next to her he snapped his fingers and appeared in a light grey, almost white uniform, a sword at his own hip and a pin on his collar of the moon hugging the planet. On the other side was the symbol of venus and the symbol for north. "North Knight," he said.

Finally, Mamoru stood. A rose appeared in his hand, and with a downward motion there was a brief flash of light and he was wearing a black tuxedo complete with top hat and a black cape with red lining. He wore a domino mask over his eyes. "Tuxedo Kamen," he whispered, drawing closer to Sailor Moon.

Fiore couldn't help himself. He stood as well, allowing his human disguise to fall away. Instead of the shaggy brown hair and eyes they had all grown accustomed to, he allowed his true form to show. His hair became a teal color, with lighter pink streaks, and his clothing was replaced by a grey-blue outfit with a long cape.

"So," he said finally. "Looks like I won't be facing the monsters alone anymore."

"We'll need to train," Venus and North Knight spoke in unison.

All of them dropped their transformations and sat back down. The mood was a bit more somber as the weight of their new responsibilities settled over them.

"Yes," said Artemis. "You will. We've only just awakened, and we need to rest, but we can begin in the morning."

"We have school in the morning," Usagi said. "And we all work. We'll have to either wake up a few hours early, or we have to train after dinner at night."

"And we can't stop doing our homework," Shingo added. "Otherwise our guardian will be forced to put us in the group home or the orphanage."

"Guardian?" Asked Luna.

There was a long silence around the room. The teens met each others eyes, all of them sad. It was hard to speak of the loss of their parents and families.

"We're all orphans Luna," Usagi said finally.

"But," Luna sounded shocked. "That isn't what the queen wanted when she sent you forward in time. She wanted you all to have a chance at happiness and a normal life."

Usagi frowned and Fiore could see a single tear shimmering on her cheek. "The monsters killed them Luna, when the man took the others."

"The man?" Artemis asked.

"He had red hair and eyes," Minako explained. "He kidnapped a total of eight kids, and we think he tried to take all of us as well. Usagi and I talked it over, and we think the monsters killed all our parents because they couldn't find us."

* * *

 **D Point - The Arctic Circle - Dark Kingdom (Negaverse)**

* * *

"You have another chance to get into my good graces," Queen Beryl said in a voice that made Rei shiver. "Go and collect energy for Metallia. We must gather as much as we can."

Rei bowed her head, and could see Jadeite beside her, doing the same. They were being paired up now. Apparently the queen thought they couldn't handle the task alone. She frowned. If they were going to gather energy, she wanted to bring several Youma.

Already plotting and planning, the two of them moved out of the throne room. There had to be a few Youma available who were up to the task. Perhaps Morga, and maybe Aquama. If she sent out two or three at once, surely whoever was out there destroying the Youma wouldn't find them all at once.

"We need a good cover," Jadeite said quietly. "I'm thinking one of the Youma should be set up somewhere while the other gathers attention."

"Let's set up Morga. There's this little jewelry shop that's having it's first ever sale," Rei told him. "I want her and another, perhaps Aquama.

"We can set up Aquama somewhere public and obvious. Somewhere that will bring notice. The park perhaps, or a crowded store or restaurant."

Rei could only nod. It was a perfect idea.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** A nod for the messed up idiom from Minako should go to my little brother, who said this once when we were very young. It has been in my head for many years. We all miss you!

Also, please thank **Astraearose-Silvermoon** for inspiring the scene on the roof. That girl is funny! She has a wealth of inspiring ideas.

Finally, I have to give credit for the first scene in this chapter to my wonderful husband **Steve** , who thought it would be a blast to show the more embarrassing side of all of them living in such close quarters.


	4. Chapter 3

**Unknown Force:  
** **Quest for the Crystals**

* * *

 _Chapter Three_

* * *

 **Tokyo Japan**

* * *

Silence hung heavily in the air as the impact of the things the children were saying fell over the two cats. They both stared in horror at the teenagers they had been sent to protect and guide. All the parents and families of sixteen children had been wiped off the face of the earth. Every last drop of their blood.

The teenagers, who'd had ample time to process all of this and to work through the pain, the anger, and the loneliness, still smarted over the course of the conversation, but their sorrow had begun to ease as they grew closer to one another and shared a common burden. They had become a family. They helped and supported one another in all things.

"So, all of them are gone?" Artemis finally asked, looking horrified.

Minako nodded and rubbed her hand gently over his head. "Yes. All of them. Most of them died around the time the strange man with red hair and eyes tried to take us and the other kids."

"That's why all of you are together then. I suppose it makes sense, though it can't remain that way forever." Luna frowned around the room.

"What do you mean?" Usagi asked, looking worried.

"I mean you aren't supposed to be with the others. Just the Inners." Luna shook her head. "This is too disorganized and messy."

Usagi shook her head. "We are staying together. This is how its always been. We're family."

"I don't think I'm explaining this very well," Luna said. She paused and paced back and forth for a moment, deep in thought. "You see, during the time of the Millennial Kingdom, the solar system was divided into groups of protectors. There were the Hogosha, who were from the sun, from the moons of the planets… Other than the Earth's moon of course. The firstborn daughter of the moon would be different."

Artemis took over the explanation. "Then there were the Senshi. The Senshi were also divided. The Inner Senshi were to protect the princess, while the Outer Senshi were to protect the Solar System from outside threats. They didn't mingle. They didn't leave their planets and visit with the moon princess."

Luna continued, "Earth did not have a Senshi because it was not a normal part of the kingdom. Instead, the golden crystal was passed to a male heir, always a male, who would then take up the task. He was protected by his four Shitennou."

Luna stared back at Usagi, who was frowning now. "So you see, it's not meant for all of you to be gathered together like this. You all have different jobs, and should be focused on doing them. If you can save the others, then there will have to be changes."

Mamoru, who had known Usagi since she was three years old, was ready for the explosion that followed Luna's words.

"Let me get this straight," Usagi said, her voice full of hostility and anger. "You mean that the Outer Senshi were kept completely separate from everyone else, like they were, I don't know, less important or something?"

Luna sighed. "That's not how it was. They just couldn't leave their posts."

Usagi snorted. "That's not how it's going to go down this time. This is different. We all live on Earth now. And we're family. We stick together. All of us. The ones here now, and the ones we are going to save. And we are going to save them. I won't stop until we do!"

Phobos and Deimos set up a loud squawk and flew to Usagi's shoulders as though they agreed with her. Mamoru stared in awe. He was absolutely in love with Usagi, and her fiery determination made him want to grab her and kiss her senseless.

Luna frowned for a long moment, but then her gaze seemed to clear and she smiled. "You know, I think I like you better like this Usagi-chan," she said quietly. "And perhaps... I think being family is more important. It means you will fight harder for one another. I'm sorry if I offended you."

Usagi grinned at the feline. "Thanks Luna. It's just difficult for all of us. We're the only ones we've had to rely on for a long time. We do everything together."

There was a break in the conversation as the phone started ringing. Everyone looked around. They were all there, so there were very few possibilities of who might be calling. Mamoru hurried to pick up the phone, feeling frustrated, as they had not finished their discussion.

"Moshi Moshi," he said quietly.

"They're suspending Mina andUsagi," Motoki said, sounding out of breath.

"What?" Mamoru felt his temper spiking. "How did you find out?"

"It's on the news. There making an example of them," Motoki explained. "They have their school pictures up on the screen right now!"

Mamoru hurried into the sitting room and turned on the television to the local news. A moment later he was swearing and shouted for the others. Motoki, who was still on the line, was ranting about the unfairness of it all, but Mamoru wasn't listening anymore. The hand holding the phone had dropped to his side.

One of the news anchors, a young man with thick black hair, was staring directly into the camera. "We need to find a way to punish people like this," he said, "they put themselves and others in danger by their actions. If you see these girls, tell them we don't want their foolish heroics in our city."

"Motoki?" Mamoru said, lifting the phone to his ear again.

"Nani?"

"I'm going to have to let you go," he said. "I've got to call our guardian."

"Okay, tell Usagi and Minako to take a couple days off. If people listen to that news man someone might try to hurt them."

"Okay," he said, and hung up the phone.

Usagi and Minako were hugging each other and crying. He met Kunzite's eyes and wondered what they were going to do to keep them safe.

) * O * (

Kobayashi-san sounded calm and rational in the face of Kunzite's fear. All he wanted to do was protect the ones he loved, but they were in danger. Minako and Usagi hadn't done anything wrong. Even two years before their actions would have earned them praise. Now the city was turning against them.

"Keep them hidden for a few days. They have been suspended for a week, and I've just contacted the Furuhata's, who are going to give them a week off as well. Maybe you could take them out of town," he added, sounding a bit strange.

"Nani?" Kunzite asked. "Where would we take them?"

"To the Jinata Onsen, the hot springs on Shikine-jima. I have a house there. Just the two girls, and yourself and Mamoru for protection," he clarified. "The others need to stay in town, but stay home. I'll call them out, but not all of you can leave the city at once."

Kunzite frowned, his mind working rapidly. The place was expensive, and they would have to take the ferry. "I don't know if we have enough in our monthly budget for that," he admitted. He was worried about the others having to fight alone.

"I'm going to add funds to your account. Get them out of town tonight. Keep their faces hidden until they're out. I'm just thankful you moved and I haven't given your new address to the school," he said with a sigh.

"Are you sure we should do this?" he asked. His mind was racing. It seemed as though Kabayashi-san thought the danger was far greater than Kunzite expected it to be.

"Yes, and quickly," he muttered. "Remember, the others need to stay. I don't know when the next attack will strike."

"Kabayashi-san?" he asked, wondering if the elderly lawyer knew they were protectors.

"You're wasting time. Get them out now!" the man ordered. "I think there may be riots before the night is over," he added.

He hung up and quickly dialed Motoki's phone.

"Moshi moshi," Motoki said, sounding leery.

"I need to borrow the van," Kunzite said without preamble. "Our lawyer wants me and Mamoru to take the girls out of the city for the week. Can we borrow it?"

"I'll be there in ten minutes," Motoki said, and hung up.

"Minako, Usagi!"

The two girls hurried into the room. "Pack enough for a week. Mamoru and I are taking you out of town. Go!" he ordered.

Mamoru, who had been hovering behind the girls, rushed out of the room and Kunzite hurried to his own bedroom to gather a few things.

"Here," the white cat said, tossing something onto the bed. It bounced lightly. Three more items landed. They looked like watches. Two were black and two were white. "These are communicators. They'll help you keep in contact with the others while you're gone," he assured him.

"Thank you," Kunzite murmured, grabbing one of the black ones. He put it on and threw the other into his pocket before he went to the bathroom and grabbed his travel kit.

Artemis followed him. "We can keep an eye on the others," he said, "but I want you to keep in mind that the prince and princess are also your responsibility."

"Usagi and Mamoru," he corrected.

"Hmm?" Artemis asked.

"Their names are Usagi and Mamoru. They're more than a prince and a princess to me. They're family."

With that said, he hurried out of the bathroom and down the hall to Minako's bedroom.

) * O * (

Usagi was a little concerned as Luna stopped her in the hallway. She looked down at the little black feline, who pushed forward what looked like a compact and a pen with her nose.

"Usagi, I want you to take these."

"What are they?" she asked, reaching down to pick up the strange items.

"The Crescent Compact and the Luna Pen," Luna said quietly. "They're only to be used for Senshi business, but in this case, I think it might be necessary to use them until you are both safely out of town. They will make you look like someone else for a short time. Also, when you aren't in disguise you might want to take your hair down and braid it for the time being. Tell your sister to do the same."

"Thanks Luna," Usagi said, unsure what else to say. She was still a bit worried about the cat, but she was grateful nonetheless.

Luna nodded and hurried her toward Mina's room. After a short explanation, two girls with brown eyes and short brown hair left the bedroom. Mina hurried down the stairs and Usagi turned to say goodbye to her new friend.

"Remember those disguises have to go as soon as you're safely out of the city. In the meantime, Artemis and I will work to set up Central Control so we can find out exactly what is happening in the city. I'm worried. Without the Silver Crystal I don't know if we can stop it."

Usagi sighed. She had no idea what to tell her. She didn't know where the Silver Crystal was. Usagi covered her face with both hands and considered the possibilities.

"I'll try to do some spiritual training while I'm out of town," she told the cat. "I've still got my investigation to go through as well. Maybe I can find some monks or a priest to help me."

Luna gave her a strange look, but then smiled. "You'll do well Usagi-chan," she said quietly before turning away and heading down the stairs.

"Oy! Usagi! Hurry up!" Kun yelled up the stairs. She raced down as quickly as she could, hauling her backpack and satchel. Mamoru took it from her and Usagi paused before she hurried past him. He had given her a strange look and she wasn't sure what it meant. Perhaps the disguise upset him. She didn't know. At the moment, she only knew she was being forced out of town because she had tried to do the right thing.

"Someone needs to warn our friends," she told Sets, giving her a hug. She quickly hugged the others tightly. "Be safe and careful," she said, then turned to the door, trying to hold back her tears.

"I'm a little pissed though," Minako hissed when they had both climbed into the van. "If they're going to do a story on us, they should at least get the facts straight."

"What are you talking about?" Usagi asked, a bit exasperated.

"They keep saying the teenager we saved was a girl," she whispered back.

Usagi couldn't stop from giggling at her friend. That was what she chose to focus on? "Mina, you are a strange one. I'm just glad you're my sister."

The sound of the engine startled her, and she turned to the front. Even in her disguise, Usagi felt a bit nervous. She didn't want to deal with people hating her for what she still believed was the right thing to do.

"I wish I knew what we were going to do for classes," Usagi said. "I'm sure Haruna-sensei will work with us, but some of the other sensei might not."

Minako gave her a strange look. She knew her sister didn't care much for some of their teachers. To be fair, she didn't either, but she really did like Haruna-sensei, even if she hadn't stood up for them in class. After the reactions they were receiving, it was understandable. She just hoped Naru and Umino wouldn't be treated badly because of them.

Kunzite handed a couple of white watches over the seat as Mamoru pulled out of the driveway. Usagi realized she hadn't even seen Motoki. She sighed, feeling guilty. He'd come to their rescue and she hadn't so much as said a simple arigato. With another heavy sigh she put the watch on her wrist.

"That's a communicator," Kunzite said quietly. "Flip it open."

Usagi searched the watch and found that the entire face opened up so that there was an entirely new display. There were planetary symbols and directional symbols as well as the moon in silver and blue, and the sun.

"I take it I just press the button that matches the name then?" Usagi asked, feeling a bit worried. Half the buttons would go unanswered if pressed now. Eight people they still had to save. She wished she knew where they were. Was it possible they were taken by the mysterious enemy sending the Youma out. This Beryl would probably not hesitate to take children.

There was a sound, a bit like the roar in a crowded sports arena, in the distance. Usagi turned to look and gasped. People were clustered together, throwing things into store windows, and destroying cars. They held pipes and wrenches and baseball bats like clubs. The crowd was screaming and Usagi shuddered.

"What's happening?" she asked, frightened.

"It's a riot," Kunzite said from the front passenger seat.

"A riot? We've got to go back!" she screamed. "We have to get the others!"

A glow lit up the sky. Someone had set a fire. Usagi felt tears streaking down her face.

"We can't," Mamoru said, his fists clenched until they were white on the steering wheel. "We can't go back."

"They need to get out!" Minako screamed. "What if they go after them?"

"Please!" Usagi yelled, her voice breaking, but Mamoru didn't slow or turn.

Without thought she opened her communicator and pressed the symbol of the sun. "Haruki!" she screamed. "There's a riot!"

"Calm down baby bunny," her cousin urged. "I've got Motoki and the others with me on the roof," he continued. "We're all safe, and if it comes to it, we can get out. You just take care of yourself right now."

"This is all my fault," Usagi moaned.

"No!" she heard the shout through the communicator and from the three others in the van. "This isn't your fault. There's something... wrong... in the city."

Usagi wept, unable to say anything more. After a time they passed out of Tokyo and she huddled together with Minako, who was dry-eyed but looked defeated. She sighed and leaned her head back on the seat rest. They had a bit of a drive ahead of them before they got to the ferry. She decided to take a nap and pretend nothing bad was happening, if only for a few minutes.

) * O * (

Setsuna stared out at the darkness. The riot was long over. It had gone on for nearly three hours before police had finally put a stop to it. Now, just past midnight, she ran her fingers through her hair as she watched the world around her, wishing she knew something that could make the situation better.

She already missed Usagi and Minako. It had been a long time since they had been parted. They'd lived next to each other for many years, and in the past year their apartment doors had always been open to one another. In the short time they had all been in the large house together she had grown accustomed to the extra noises of Minako singing and Usagi dancing along, her feet stomping to whatever tune was playing.

Finally, she closed the door and turned back into the house. She knew things were going to change rapidly now that they had discovered a new part of themselves. She could still hardly believe she was Sailor Pluto. She hadn't even had a chance to fight yet and now she was partly in charge of protecting the city. Thankfully Fiore was with them, and he would help them through.

Setsuna hoped the outcry against the girls would quickly die down. The last thing they needed was someone beating down their door and trying to harm them. Haruki was sitting in the library and Setsuna quickly joined him. Shingo and Hotaru had gone to bed. It had already been a long night, and they were both exhausted and wrung out emotionally.

"Did they check in yet?" she asked quietly.

Haruki shook his head. "No, but I'm sure they will as soon as they reach the island. They decided to go the long way so no one would recognize them."

She couldn't hold back a sigh. Haruki wrapped his arms around her and held her close. "They'll be okay Sets."

"I know. It's just that everything is going to change."

"Yes it is. But I think we can handle it. Did you see how those cats took to the girls? And they seem to like Fiore very much."

"He can understand them," Sets reminded him. "It's difficult to be an alien on our planet."

He grunted in response and she rested her head against his shoulder, seeking comfort. "Do you know that I love you," he asked quietly.

She nodded. "Almost as much as I love you," she told him, and kissed him hard. "I need you tonight," she whispered quietly.

Haruki nodded. He had felt it too, she knew. There was something pulling at them all, and tonight was the only guarantee they had. He took her hand and together they moved up the stairs. He led her into his room and shut he door quietly before turning and kissing her again.

Setsuna wrapped her arms around his neck as he drew her closer to the bed. When he sat, he pulled her to stand between his legs and rested his head on her belly for a long moment, kissing her gently before his hands slid up under her shirt and he lifted it off her. Long green hair flowed over her now bare back as her bra was tossed across the room.

Moving her hand to his shoulders, she slid the material of his own top away and bent to kiss his freckled skin. "I love you," she murmured, clutching him tightly, then moaned as he captured her nipple in his mouth.

"I love you," he groaned as his hands slid to the side of her hips and he tugged her skirt and panties off her body. She stepped out of them as she worked frantically at the buttons on his own shirt. Her fingers fumbled in nervousness and excitement. He groaned again and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, pulling her over to the side and laying her across his mattress. He stood and tore at his own clothing. A moment later he was naked except for his socks and was moving over her, kissing along her neck.

"Setsuna," he whispered fiercely and his teeth bit gently into her shoulder. Wild hands roamed her skin as he moved down her body, kissing everywhere he could touch. Her hands speared into his hair, holding him tight as he spread her thighs and moved his mouth to her already swollen pearl.

Soft sighs and moans followed as he played her, his fingers dancing over her slit as it moistened in response to his touches. His mouth clamped down over her and he suckled hard. She screamed wildly, calling his name as stars exploded in her vision. Her whole body convulsed as her walls tightened spasmodically around the finger he had pressed into her.

Quickly he returned to her, kissing over her sensitive skin. She wanted to turn him over and return the favor, driving him as wild as he had driven her, but already his member was pressing against her opening.

"Be sure Setsuna," he said staring down into her eyes.

"I'm sure Haruki," she whispered. "I love you."

"I love you too," he said and bent to kiss her as he pressed inside. The feeling of his body invading hers was a mixture of pleasure and slight pain. Quickly he passed through the barrier with a brief pinch. It was her walls adjusting to the size of him that took her breath away. She panted at the feeling of being stretched and filled.

He held still for several long moments, staring into her eyes. "Are you okay," he asked, panting hoarsely as he tried to control the urge to move. She knew it was difficult to stay still, and she nodded for him to continue.

A dome appeared over their heads, shimmering in golds and reds and silvery whites. Hints of onyx and green flowed through it. A sweet melody seemed to fill the air around them, and her heart melted at the sound. It was like love made into music. A soft, warm breeze that spoke of summer sun touched their skin.

With her body now adjusted to his, she began to move with him, their bodies moving together and apart as he filled her again and again. Each motion of him inside her caused waves of desire and heat to coil in her belly until she was writhing under him, barely containing her screams.

The pace increased as they grew closer and closer to the pinnacle of their lovemaking, and she could feel a strange pressure building behind the bundle of nerves he had touched so intimately. She felt as though something was coming, pulling her further and further into a maelstrom of sensation. His pace was frantic now, losing all semblance of rhythm as he pressed deeper and deeper.

Together they flew into the abyss, their arms clenching around each other as ribbons of light swirled and circled around them bonding them tighter together until neither could move an inch. Still locked together, they felt a tightness close over them before it seemed to stretch and expand and sink into their skin. Completely taken by surprise both of them opened their mouths and began to speak. **_"I possess and am possessed. Forever mated and unified with you. I will protect and cherish, hold and succor until my dying breath."_**

) * O * (

Usagi was weeping in her sleep. Mamoru checked the rearview mirror and pulled to the side of the road. Minako was still awake and Kunzite was more alert than he was.

"Mina, come sit up front. Kun, could you take over?"

He climbed out, stretching his legs as he went, and then climbed into the seat Minako had vacated. He unsnapped the buckle around Usagi and pulled her into his lap, rocking her a bit as he made soothing noises. He had no idea what had come over him, but it seemed to work as her quiet sobs disappeared and she seemed to find a more restful sleep soon after.

She opened her eyes for a brief second, and stared up at him. "The music is so beautiful," she whispered, and then she was lightly snoring against his chest.

The quiet conversation from the front seat washed over him. He didn't hear any of what they were saying, but the sound of their voices was soothing. His own eyes felt heavy and gritty. It had been an extremely long day. It felt like nearly a year had passed since he'd walked in on a topless Usagi that morning.

With a contented sigh he rested his head over hers and closed his eyes, just holding her close to him. His mind conjured images of her on a beach, wearing a pink bikini and laughing as the surf played over her feet. He smiled and let himself fall into the dream of chasing her across the wet sand and kissing her until she never cried again.

) * O * (

Morga had been set up quietly in a jewelry store near the Azabu Juban shopping district, with the order to bring as little attention to herself as possible. She impersonated the owner, a woman with red hair whose last name was Osaka. Morga's task was to create an energy drain in the jewelry that was sold, and to feed a constant stream of energy to Metalia. The energy taken was to be a low level, and she was to remain hidden at all costs. Rei and Jadeite impressed upon her that the price of failing her orders was instant destruction.

Meanwhile they worked on setting Aquama up in a much more public setting in the early morning hours. That Youma, who sprayed jets of water, would take as much energy as possible at once until it was destroyed. It was nothing more than a mindless decoy. The water it sprayed out would instantly render victims unconscious and their energy would be drained quickly, leaving many of the victims comatose for weeks.

Jadeite couldn't deny he always felt bad about it. When he and Rei made Youma they always built in what he called a failsafe. Their victims did not die from the drain. Queen Beryl only agreed to this because they had also built in a program to twist the thinking of the people who survived the attacks. Over time the feelings spread to those around them, until more and more the people did not fight and they turned on any who did.

Slowly but surely the people of Tokyo had become accustomed to the Youma. They didn't often fight back against them, and often made those who did fight back feel bad for their actions. It served to point out those who behaved differently. Queen Beryl wanted to know anyone who didn't act the way she wanted them to. She wanted certain individuals. They'd been tasked to try and find them as well as stealing energy.

Jadeite and Rei brought Aquama to one of the larger parks, where they could be assured of large crowds of people. Yoyogi park seemed the most popular as it was in an area with heavy foot traffic and a large population. It was in the Shibuya ward, very close to the Azabu ward where they were placing Morga. The difference was how the energy drain would take place, and the fact that Morga would be hiding what she was doing while Aquama would be as visible as they could make her.

He and Rei moved quickly, entering the portal and finding the most crowded part of the park. Then they released her and disappeared back to the OSA-P Jewelry store, where the owner had been hidden in the basement while Morga took her place. They didn't need to remain near Aquama to see what happened. Rei had the ability to link with the Youma she created so she could see what they did.

) * O * (

Kunzite watched as Mamoru pulled the van onto the ferry. Minako and Usagi both slept, though neither were entirely peaceful. Mamoru had woken when they'd stopped, and had taken his place. Now Kunzite sat in the front passenger seat. He had moved a sleeping Minako to lay along the last seat in the van. The two girls both had nightmares on and off throughout the night, and it occured to Kunzite that it was the reason they had fought against having separate bedrooms.

He was thankful they had eventually removed their disguises, though both had braided their hair, making them look more like twins than ever. With Minako's trademark bow gone, and Usagi's double buns no longer pulling eyes to her, they seemed like normal, ordinary girls.

The ferry ride would take a few hours, he knew, and he settled in as soon as the van was parked, leaning the chair back and closing his eyes. He heard Mamoru adjust his own seat to do the same.

Sleep wouldn't come. His mind whirled with strange thoughts, and he needed a willing ear. "Mamoru, I think our lawyer knows we aren't normal," he said, keeping his voice quiet so he didn't disturb the girls.

"I guessed as much," Mamoru said, "because he insisted the others had to stay."

"You heard that?" Kunzite frowned. He opened his eyes and looked over at his friend and brother.

"Yeah. I also noticed he was pretty specific that we had to be the ones to get the girls out of town. I think he realizes we're in love with them."

"Do you think he could be a bit like Luna and Artemis?" Kunzite asked, suddenly feeling very strongly that he was onto something important.

"Yes. I also think our parents were something more than ordinary," he said finally. "Why did my parents suddenly take me out of Kofu and drive all the way to the mountains? Why did your parents suddenly pick up Minako and hide both of you? And why did Usagi's parents continue searching for the missing kids, and seem to know what to do when we acted strangely?"

Kunzite nodded, deep in thought. "They must have known something of who we were," he said finally. "I don't think all of them could have known of course. Hotaru's parents always seemed ordinary to me and Minako's parents were both a bit too focused on money and power, but… I don't know. I think you could be right about the rest."

"Maybe we should get a bit more involved in Usagi and Minako's quest." Mamoru said. "I think they need us to support them now more than ever. I still feel so bad for yelling at them. They were only doing what they knew was right, and we made them feel horrible for it."

Kunzite agreed. "I made her cry," he whispered, the weight of his guilt eating at his gut like acid. "I love her more than my own life, and I made her cry."

Mamoru sighed. "I made Usa cry too," he said. "Though, in our defense, we love them so much that we were afraid. Fear makes people say and do strange things," he added.

"Then we're agreed. From now on we support them completely," Kunzite said.

Mamoru held out his hand and the two of them shook on their pact. After that Kunzite was able to shut his mind down and slip into a light sleep.

) * O * (

"There's a strange energy coming from the park," said Fiore, sounding a bit urgent. "Come on, let's get to the roof."

Haruki stood quickly and pulled Setsuna up behind him. Shingo and Hotaru came into the room, each munching on a piece of toast.

"We have to go," Setsuna told them. "One of those Youma might be attacking."

Shingo dropped his toast and Hotaru gulped, but both followed them. They were met at the stairs by the two cats, and each of the young ones picked up a guardian. They hurried to the roof and each transformed. A moment later they were running from one rooftop to another.

"I want you two to stay completely hidden," Fiore ordered Saturn and Blue Moon. "You aren't trained yet, and I don't want to take chances. Only attack if you see someone sneaking up on us from behind," he said seriously. "Eventually they will realize there is someone fighting back, so keep careful watch."

In the distance they could all hear someone shouting "aquama" repeatedly. They hurried to the spot, only to find a creature throwing jets of water at early morning pedestrians. Screams echoed as people ran, pushing and shoving one another.

Fiore let out a strange burst of energy at the blue creature. Sun Knight instinctively lifted his sword and his mouth moved without conscious thought. "Sun Kissed," his voice hollered, and a yellow orange light filled with flames and wild energy flew out, hitting the creature in the arm.

With a roar of pain and anger the creature threw itself at them. Beside him Sailor Pluto tapped a tall staff on the ground and in a quiet voice full of power spoke, "Dead Scream."

The attack hit the creature squarely in the chest and it was thrown backward, tumbling end over end. Before it could rise Sun lifted his sword again, pointing it at the head of the downed Youma. "Solar Flare," he spoke, and noticed that the others launched their attack simultaneously.

There was unearthly silence for a long moment before he heard a shout from the rooftops. He turned in time to pull Pluto to the ground, covering her with his body. He felt heat on his skin, and gritted his teeth.

"Blue Moon Radiance!" He heard, and raised his head to see two people throwing themselves backward into a portal. A young man with short, curly blonde hair and grey blue eyes wearing a dark grey uniform wrapped an arm around a girl with long black hair and dull blue eyes wearing a black leather fuku with a red stripe along the hem of the skirt. He felt a strange sense of recognition for the couple, but they were gone before he could process it.

He lifted himself off the ground. Everywhere he looked people were lying motionless. Some were in work attire while others wore uniforms for various schools. Sadness and anger welled up inside him and a warmth filled his chest. Without thought he lifted his sword and cried out, "Gentle Sunlight Healing." From the tip of his sword a golden light emerged and covered the area in a warm glow. People began to stir and rise.

His knees weakened and he found he could no longer stand. The others hurried to him. There was a distant sound of sirens, and then police cars began to pull up around the park. He thought for a moment that they were there to help the people who had been drained in the attack, until he heard someone speaking.

"We will not tolerate vigilante justice in our city," came a voice over a bullhorn. "We have you surrounded, put your hands up and be taken into custody," the speaker continued, sounding enraged.

Blue Moon and Saturn grabbed his shoulders and a moment later the five of them had disappeared, finding themselves in an alien environment. White sand crunched in Sun's hand and he looked up curiously, unsure what to expect. In the distance, shining like a bright blue marble, he could see the earth hanging in space beyond the edge of the moon.

His mind conjured a line from a movie Usagi and Minako had loved during their childhood. "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore Toto."

"Not in Japan either," said Fiore quietly. "Exactly how did we end up on the moon?" he asked.

They all turned to look at Shingo. The boy blushed wildly. "Oops," he whispered.

) * O * (

Jedi and Rei breathed heavily as the landed back in the basement of the jewelry store. Neither was injured, though it had been a close call. They had not expected hidden enemies. It wasn't a mistake either would make again. He wondered about the fighters. For a moment he had almost felt he recognized them.

With a sigh he turned to Rei and pulled her into his arms. "That was too close for comfort," he told her, holding tight.

"It was," she breathed. "I felt like I knew them," she said after a few minutes. It startled Jadeite and he pulled back to look into her eyes.

"I did too," he admitted. "I remember Queen Beryl ordering our families to be killed though, so I'm not sure how we know them."

Rei sighed sadly and rested her head against his shoulder. They had no choice but to obey their Queen, but neither was happy about it. None of the others were either. The pull to obey was far too strong to resist. He ran his fingers up through her hair and continued to hold her close.

In the dark kingdom, his failures meant pain for her, or the others as well as himself. If one failed, they all failed. It was a lesson they had learned long ago, and so they worked together. Now, he thought it might be a good time to contact Zoicite and Ami, who were geniuses, and get their help.

) * O * (

Kunzite ran his fingers over Minako's forehead. She was lying on the couch, lost in another nightmare, and it was one of the few ways he had learned to sooth her over time. He spoke quietly, in a gentle and loving tone, as he tried to bring her out of the dream. He couldn't wake her too suddenly or she would scream and panic. He didn't want her afraid.

It was something Mina and Usagi shared. Both of them had nightmares. None of the others really understood. He knew it stemmed from the horrors they had faced. Though Mina hadn't witnessed her parent's death, it still tore at her and she dreamed of them dying. Usagi dreamed of her parents death as well. But the dreams went deeper than that, he knew. Both of them dreamed of an attack they went through together when they were young. Neither had ever given any of the details.

They'd arrived shortly after dawn onto the island, and driven to the house. He and Mamoru had carried the girls inside and now both were resting. It was a small place, with two bedrooms, one on either end. Each bedroom held a large bed, and a dresser, but not much else. He stared around himself in fascination as he continued to sooth Minako. She was no longer crying out, but had turned into him, apparently seeking his warmth. Mamoru had Usagi in his lap on the other couch and was rocking her from side to side like a child.

Kunzite sighed. He knew something was going on with the girls, and he was determined to figure out what it was.

) * O * (

Minako was finally pulled out of the nightmare by the soft soothing touches Kunzite made on her forehead. She slowly sat up and stared at him, then at their surrounding. She didn't remember falling asleep. She remembered talking to Kunzite during the long drive, but she must have dozed off at some point.

She could hear Usagi and Mamoru talking and looked over to see them standing together in the kitchen. She really hoped Usagi didn't try to cook. She was no better than Minako herself and none of them would enjoy food poisoning.

Kunzite smiled down at her and leaned in to kiss her forehead. "Are you alright now?" he asked, his voice soothing.

She nodded, unsure what to say. Long ago she and Usagi had promised themselves and each other to keep a secret. Their parents had known, but since they'd gone there had been no one to help them. She wished, for just a moment, that she could share it with Kunzite, but even if she could, she knew she wasn't ready, and neither was Usagi.

"What are we going to do today?" she asked, raising her voice a bit so her sister could hear.

"I promised Luna I would try to do some spiritual work, and I really want to go over our notes and organize what we have to see if I can uncover any leads we might have missed," Usagi said, coming back into the room.

"I plan to get something to feed my favorite bottomless pit," Mamoru added, nudging Usagi with his hip as he came to stand beside her.

"I thought I might take you to the hot springs," Kunzite said, grabbing her hand. "I think you could use the time to relax."

Minako nodded. "How about we all have something to eat and go to the hot springs after Usagi and I look through our notes. Then we can search the island and see if there is a Jinja here, or maybe a Pagoda. We can talk to priests and monks and maybe it will help us with the spiritual aspects of our search."

Usagi gave her a brilliant smile. "It's perfect."

Kunzite and Mamoru both nodded. She was thankful they were willing to help.

) * O * (

Usagi stared down at her notes. There were eight missing children. All eight families had been utterly destroyed after their children were abducted. She was relatively certain that she and the others had been on that list, and their families were destroyed as well. Other than Fiore, all their tragedies had begun around the time of the kidnappings. Her notes were pretty clear now, though there were still unanswered questions.

Eight Missing Children  
 **Kino Makoto** \- Both parents killed in a plane crash. Flight recorder data classified.  
 **Hino Rei** \- Grandfather dies of apparent heart attack.  
 **Mizuno Ami** \- Parents killed by mysterious creature in Amazon rainforest  
 **Ten'ou Haruka** \- House burned down with family inside  
 **Kaiou Michiru** \- Mysterious sickness takes family in single night  
 **Yoshida Nephrite** \- Claim of suicide, but case still open with police  
 **Sasaki Jadeite & Zoicite** \- Father, Mother, and baby sister died of mysterious causes

Usagi stared at the page, tears swimming into her eyes. She wasn't sure what to think of everything. She had never laid it out so plainly before. It was so horrible to look at those names and realize that every person who had a reason to seach for the missin children was now gone, wiped from existence, for no more reason than that it was convenient. She almost didn't want to look at the second set of notes.

Eight (possible) Attempted Kidnappings  
 **Meiou Setsuna** \- Parents disappeared under mysterious circumstances  
 **Tomoe Hotaru** \- Strange Lab Explosion ?  
 **Aino Minako** \- Cause of death unknown - believed to be a Youma attack  
 **Kazuo Haruki** \- Youma attack - investigation closed  
 **Chiba Mamoru** \- Parents die in car accident - Mamoru survives with only a bumped head  
 **Ine Kunzite** \- Youma attack at Missing Children's Center  
 **Tsukino Usagi & Shingo** \- Youma attack at Missing Children's Center

She couldn't hold back the sniffle as she stared at her and her brother's names. None of them had deserved to lose their families. And their parents hadn't deserved to die. It was all so horrible, and yet it made a sick sort of sense.

"What are you thinking of?" Mamoru asked, looking over her shoulder.

Usagi jumped, startled, and turned to look at him. "I'm thinking that we were all intended targets. Even Sets' parents went missing about two months before the kidnappings. That's why she was in the orphanage. But you already knew that. I guess… do you think the Youma that killed them is still out there? Could it be the one we destroyed?"

Usagi ducked her head as she asked the question. Mamoru was always honest with her, even when she wasn't sure she wanted to know the truth. As much as she wanted to believe she had killed her parents killer, she couldn't assume that.

"I don't know," he said, a frown maring his features. "I have to believe whatever Youma it was that killed them has been out there since the disappearances. I think it was sent to make sure the kids it took had no one searching for them anymore. I also think it was sent to look for the rest of us. It's very possible that the one we destroyed could be the killer."

She looked across the table at Minako, who was compiling a list of sightings that had been phoned into the tip line over the years. Her sister looked up and their eyes locked for a long moment. Both of them sensed that the shadow Youma had been involved. Their eyes spoke a million words in a few seconds and they both turned back to their work.

* * *

 **D Point - The Arctic Circle - Dark Kingdom (Negaverse)**

* * *

) * O * (

Queen Beryl was not a patient woman. Nor was she very wise. That made her the perfect puppet in the eyes of Metallia. The true queen of the Negaverse never showed herself. She preferred to let Beryl act in her stead, though the work was getting sloppy as the woman seemed focused more and more on the Earth Prince instead of the goal of overtaking the planet. The woman needed to be reminded of the price of failure, it seemed. Metallia laughed. It was a sound no one had heard that lived and breathed. If Beryl failed her she would pay.

) * O * (

Queen Beryl sat on her throne, holding her staff up so that she could gaze into the orb. Her eyes were focused on the basement of a little jewelry store in Tokyo, where two of her hounds were at work collecting energy for Metallia. She had witnessed their fight, and was not disappointed with the results. It seemed the others were finally being awakened. With the outcry against 'vigilante justice' in Tokyo, she was sure before long they would be captured and brought to heel. Soon she would have her prince, and the princess would be chained at her feet as punishment for daring to take his love from her.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

* * *

You might have realized I changed the eye colors for Rei and Jadeite just a bit. I don't know if anyone watched the Crystal series, but if you did you probably noted that when Mamoru was turned evil, his eye color changed drastically, looking almost lavender. I decided to go with that for this story. Next chapter will start the quest I think, and I will be introducing a few more of the characters.

With a bunch of help from **Astraearose-Silvermoon** , her husband **Phoenix** , and my husband **Steve** , this story is coming together, and much of the plot is already worked out, though I must admit I surprise myself sometimes with where I take certain scenes. Half of this chapter was written over a week ago, and the other half was written in a few bursts of inspiration last night and then this morning.

Please, please, please tell me what you think. I really haven't gotten much of a response on this story, and it is something I've worked really hard on. So please review.


	5. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** Two new OC's are about to be introduced in this chapter, but I can't take credit for them. They are borrowed from my friend Astraearose-silvermoon. She created them for her story Awakening Ascension, which is a very good (and I've already had a sneak peek at the next chapter - he he) about Hotaru and Shingo... a few years down the line in an altered timeline. It's wicked good reading if you want to check it out.

The characters are Tsuki & Tomatsu! They are Lunarian wolves. I'm really excited to use them for this story, and for Pretty Guardians go to Hogwarts, where they will be revealed soon. I just love them.

 **Unknown Force:  
Quest for the Crystals**  
 _Chapter Four_

* * *

 **Shikine-Jima, Japan**

* * *

Mamoru could only be grateful to sink into the hot springs. Usagi and Minako both sighed in relief. He smiled over at Kunzite, who nodded. They needed this break. They still had to find what they were looking for, and they would be there to assist all they could. He was grateful to have the chance. The girls needed their unwavering support.

His mind wandered to the way Usagi had curled into him as she'd slept. Somehow he was able to stop the nightmares. He only wished she would tell him the cause. He knew Kunzite felt the same about Minako. Would they ever learn the secret?

He let out a sigh as his tense muscles began to relax. It was a problem for another time. Right now the girls were safe. That was what was important.

) * O * (

Minako sat carefully on the floor and stared where the priest had pointed into the flames.

"Watch," he ordered. "Listen," he commanded. "Learn," he instructed.

She nodded and stared into the flames. For a long time nothing happened.

She began to feel a strange warmth tingling through her chest. It felt as though something was aching to get out, but it became almost painful, so she pulled away from the feeling and refocused.

She stared into the flame, willing it to show her something that they could use. Her eyes ached and her body stiffened, but nothing happened. Frustrated she closed her eyes and reached for the warmth in her chest again. "Please help me see something!" she said quietly.

When she opened her eyes and gazed back at the flame, there was a flicker in its depths.

Flicker.

 _First she saw Phobos and Deimos. They were flying rapidly, headed straight for her. She wasn't afraid. She knew they would simply land on her shoulders as always. She felt their weight settling down on her, comforting in its familiarity._

 _The scene changed and there was a purple coffin which appeared to be made entirely of glass. The crows settled on it and began tapping away. Then they turned to look at her as though telling her to hurry. She raced toward it, and saw Usagi, Mamoru and Kunzite following behind her. They each reached up, holding something in their hands that glittered brightly. She was doing the same. Then together they each brought their hands down and slammed them against the coffin as the birds tapped away frantically._

 _It broke open revealing a boy with curly blonde hair and a girl with raven black hair. Phobos and Deimos landed on them and began braiding her hair. When two small braids were complete, they tied the braids around the wrist of the boy._

Flicker.

 _She saw a strange pair of birds, turquoise with a wide wingspan, throwing lighting. When it beat its wings lines spread from them, as though to indicate loud sound. They raced across the sky towards a city that floated in the air. She could not follow them. They lifted higher and higher into the air, and she suddenly found herself flying with them._

 _Suddenly, with a sharp turn, they raced toward another purple chamber. As they approached, she realized she was not alone with the birds. The others were with her. Kunzite was behind her while Mamoru and Usagi were together. As one they lifted their hands and crashed them onto the coffin as the birds struck._

 _The coffin structure broke apart revealing the tallest man she had ever seen and a woman who wasn't much shorter. He had chestnut hair and hers reminded Minako of cinnamon. The birds looped a strange bracelet over their wrists that became two bracelets connected by a short chain. They were one._

Flicker.

 _There was a little white and brown bird poking at rocks near a large sheet of ice. Another called from the sky and the first rose and flew toward it. They circled and dove happily, until there was a sudden chill on the air and a great purple coffin rose out of the ice and flowed toward the edge. The birds screamed in fear and tapped at the glass, crying._

 _Minako felt herself running forward, and the others surrounded her as again they lifted their hands and struck at the glass. A second time, and a third they hit, until finally it broke open. The little birds dove inside where there was a girl with blue hair and a boy with long strawberry blonde hair. One of the birds pulled a hair from the boy's head and they tied it to the fingers of the couple._

Flicker.

 _A great white bird soared over the sea alone. It seemed lost, and afraid. Minako felt devastation and loneliness. Until another appeared, this one slightly darker and smaller, and the first soared to it, making loud sounds of joy._

 _Over the ocean waves a purple coffin floated. But Minako could tell it wasn't going to stay afloat for long. She panicked, racing toward it even before the birds had finished their greeting. When they saw what she was doing they dove with her. She could see the others fighting against the current. Without them she didn't think she could break it open. Afraid she would lose them, she reached up and screamed for help._

 _A heavy weight fell into her hand and she saw it was a sword with a garnet Crystal in the hilt. She screamed again as she brought the blade down on the lid of the coffin. And still it wasn't enough. Usagi reached her next and tapped on the glass with a little wand that held a crescent moon at the tip with a brilliant Silver Crystal._

 _"Together?" she asked._

 _Nodding, near to tears, she agreed. "Together."_

 _In one motion they each smashed against the lid of the coffin, just as the birds hit the glass. It broke open revealing two girls, though one had a more masculine air than the other. She had short blond hair and the other aqua locks that flowed past her shoulders. The birds held a coil of thick rope and bound them hand and foot to one another._

Flicker.

 _A pair of turtledoves appeared. She smiled. They were beautiful. The two little birds circled around her and then grabbed the bow in her hair and took it to Kunzite. One bird came back and pecked her gently on the shoulder, moving her forward. She stepped closer and closer to him and lifted her hand. He put his in hers and the two birds tied the ribbon around their hands, binding them together._

Flicker.

 _Strange birds rose from a pile of ashes. They grew and grew until they were bright red plumaged and had long feathers flowing behind them almost like a tail. She knew that bird. It was a phoenix. One held a chain with a timepiece, the other held a sun. She saw them approach a red-haired man holding tight to a woman with long green hair. They each wrapped one of the chains around the couple until they were entwined completely._

Flicker.

 _A pair of pups gamboled across the grass, jumping and leaping at several butterflies over their heads. Two children ran toward them. One with light hair, one dark. She recognized them instantly. Shingo and Hotaru. The pups were holding a length of rope and wrapped it around and around their legs until they were holding one another. Shingo wrapped his arms around Hotaru and smiled._

Flicker.

 _She saw two figures she recognized. Luna and Artemis walked forward sedately. As they approached her they changed form. Luna became a stately woman with long black hair, part of it tied up in double buns on each side of her head. Artemis became a tall man with long white hair and a sword at his hip. They each carried a crown and as they moved Minako could see Usagi and Mamoru looking back at her. They didn't see the pair approach. Luna placed one crown on Usagi's head, while Artemis did the same to Mamoru. Then they placed a strange silver cord on Usagi's wrist. As they stretched it out the color slowly changed until it was gold and it was placed also on Mamoru's wrist._

Flicker.

 _Finally she saw Fiore, standing alone, looking sad and forlorn. Her heart ached for him until she saw a tree approach from the heavens. When the tree landed it put out roots and flowers bloomed around it on the ground. She smiled. Two of the flowers opened and became a girl and a boy, around her own age, and the each approached Fiore. The girl stood in the middle, with one boy to either side. The tree swayed behind them and a beautiful purple vine speared out and wrapped around the three of them, braiding them together._

Flicker.

 _She saw a dark room. Empty and vast. Filled with a white mist. She stood alone, only a tiny glow helping to beat back the dark. Usagi entered and the glow from her brightened the room. Setsuna appeared, and Hotaru, each with a glow of their own. Mamoru, Kunzite, Shingo, and Haruki. The glow grew. Fiore approached and the glow was brighter. The light could not pierce the mist._

 _The first pair she had seen appeared. Mars and West. Each added to the brightness. Then Jupiter and East ran in, and the glow increased again. Mercury and South increased the glow still more. Neptune and Jupiter came in hand in hand. Finally the glow began to pierce the mist and they could see people hidden underneath._

 _Fiore's companions appeared and the light grew and spread. A few people were uncovered and approached them. Their glow grew. Still more were revealed, and as each appeared the mist was beat back more and more until it faded under the brightness of their light._

Flicker.

Minako's eyes opened and she she felt tears pouring down her cheeks. She wasn't really sure what it all meant, but she felt one thing she hadn't felt before. Hope.

"Did you see that?" Usagi whispered.

Minako could only nod. She heard the murmured assent from the others and thanked the kami for their aid. The elderly priest approached.

"The flames have given you a hope," he said. "Hold to it."

* * *

 **Tokyo, Japan**

* * *

Setsuna couldn't stop giggling. Shingo's 'oops' moment was funny. She didn't know how they had ended up on the moon, but Luna said it was probably because it was his home in their past life, and it automatically registered as a place of safety.

Now that they were back home, they had things to do. It was going to be a busy day, she was sure. They had to call out of their jobs, or risk getting fired. They also had to make sure the house was safe and secure, and take precautions in case their location was discovered.

She moved into the kitchen to make an early lunch. She was thankful there had been something to laugh about. Her moment with Haruki aside, there hadn't been much that was happy the last few days. It seemed like all at once the world had gone mad.

First Usagi and Minako had saved that boy and both had been drained in the process. Though discovering Usagi had killed the creature had filled her with hope, there had been an immediate backlash from others. Then they'd rescued the cats, and fought of a Youma, and now they were in hiding because most of the city had turned on them.

Haruki came into the kitchen. "They checked in!" he said happily. "They made it to the island early this morning, but they assumed we were all still asleep. I told them about the battle, and they're glad we're all okay."

"That's wonderful news," Setsuna said, hurrying to him for a hug.

"They're planning to go to the hot springs today, and one of the jinja on the island. Tomorrow they want to go to a temple as well. I think Usagi and Minako are really very serious about this, and Mamoru said he and Kunzite are going to support them completely."

"Good. I didn't like that they yelled at them for doing the right thing."

Haruki frowned. "I didn't either, but to be honest, if I saw you in danger, I don't know how I would react. I don't think they were really mad at the girls. Just afraid. At least they're trying to fix their mistake."

She could only nod. His arms felt good around her. She felt safe and loved and comforted. She just wanted to be held like this forever.

) * O * (

Fiore hurried back up onto the roof and surveyed the city. There was another riot tonight. It was hardly past dark, and already he could hear the thunderous sound of voices, and feel the anger that filled the people. So much hate and anger had to come from somewhere. Frustrated, he ran his fingers through his hair and stared out at the orange glow.

He couldn't fight against people the way he could the monsters. Youma, he reminded himself.

He opened the watch face and looked at the double ring of buttons. He didn't know how he had already been included, but he was. That tree on his own button was the Makai tree. The Tree of Life. He wondered if she was still out there, with what was left of his kind, and if he would ever find them.

Looking back down at the communicator he realized that even if he never did find them, he still had a family. He would never be completely alone.

) * O * (

Naru hid in her room. Her mother was not acting normal. She hadn't even cared that there was a riot. After that she hadn't dared mention her friends were missing. Her mother was starting to act like the others. The ones who were turning against Usagi and Minako. She missed them. The blond duo made life fun and interesting.

School had been awful. Not just the other students harassing her and Umino, but the walk there and back. And now, as she stared at the window, she knew tomorrow she would see even more glass and broken things and pipes and scorch marks. It made her incredibly sad.

With a sigh she picked up her phone. When Umino answered she explained what was happening. He was sympathetic.

"Tomorrow you're coming to stay with me. The last thing you need is to be hurt by your own mother," he said.

) * O * (

Rei was relieved. She sat quietly outside the girl's door. She thought her mother had been affected the same way as all the others. Which meant she didn't suspect a Youma. She was very angry at Morga for the way she'd acted. What was the point if the girl figured them out. Then they would be forced to kill her.

As quietly as she could she stood and made her way back down the stairs, through the hallway behind the shop and into the basement. No one could be allowed to know that there was a Youma here, infecting people by the day. Soon there would be a stream of energy for Metalia, and more than that, those around them would become infected with the same hatred they would carry.

She hoped Queen Beryl would be pleased.

) * O * (

Haruki woke up slowly, a smile on his face as he felt Setsuna's warm body wrapped around his. She was making little humming noises in her sleep, and he wanted to laugh. She just brightened his world completely. He nuzzled his face into her long, silky, green hair, and held her closer.

"Ruki?" she asked, waking slightly.

"It's okay Sets. Shhh."

She hummed again and kissed his shoulder. "I'm awake, and I want coffee."

He smiled. She was almost as bad as himself and Mamoru when it came to coffee in the morning, though she drank tea in the afternoon, which amused him. He clung tighter for a moment, enjoying her bare skin over his, before he sat up with a groan.

She moved with him so they were both sitting, staring at the far wall. Then he turned and looked at her, grinning like a fool. "I could get used to this, you know," he said.

"Good, because I slept better than I have in years. Too bad though. We just finished moving everything in, and now you and I are going to be combining rooms."

She was looking around carefully. "We can bring in one of the armoires and a dresser and put them there." She pointed to one side of the room. "My vanity can go next to the window. The extra sheets and blankets can go into the house rotation, except for the quilt."

Haruki knew that quilt meant everything to Setsuna. She had made it with her adoptive mother before the attack on the missing children's center, and it was one of the few things that remained. He would make sure she was never parted from it.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"For what?" he asked.

"What you just said, about making sure I was never parted from my quilt."

"I didn't say it out loud," Haruki said, startled.

"Think something at me."

:: I love you, :: he tried.

:: I love you too! OH! It's perfect! I can feel your surprise. ::

:: We can talk to each other without words, :: Haruki thought to her. :: It's incredible. ::

:: I wonder if it has to do with all the lights and music and everything when we made love. I've been able to feel you really strongly ever since then. ::

:: Me too. When we were fighting yesterday morning, I knew right where you were, and that you were okay, but nervous. ::

:: And I knew you were determined to protect me and the kids at all costs. ::

"Maybe the cat's know what this is," Haruki said aloud.

"Probably. Maybe we could ask when the kids aren't underfoot."

Setsuna giggled and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Before we go down for coffee," she said, "maybe you and I should spend a little more time thinking about what will happen in this room."

He smiled and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Another giggle erupted, and he thought if he could hear that sound every day for the rest of his life, he would never want another thing.

) * O * (

"Where are Photos and Deimos?" Hotaru asked, coming down the stairs. "I haven't seen them all morning," she added.

Fiore frowned. He hadn't seen them either. Not since Mamoru's and Kunzite had taken the girls away. He wondered if the crows had followed them. Hurrying out into the yard he called for them, but neither came. With a sigh, he turned back to the house.

Hotaru stood on the back step, staring up at the sky.

"Look," she said quietly.

Smoke was rising again in the distance. He raced back inside and called their lawyer. "Kobayashi-san," he said when the phone was answered. "How bad is it?"

"Juuban Municipal Junior High School is burning," Kobayashi-san answered sadly.

) * O * (

Hotaru and Shingo sat in the backyard, putting birdseed into little containers for Phobos and Deimos. Neither understood where the birds had gone, and no one had mentioned it again. The smoke in the air and the ringing of the phone had changed everything. Shingo had found Hotaru crying, worrying about the strange pair who had quickly become part of their life. He'd convinced her to keep trying, so here they were, sitting outside in the early morning hours, hoping the two birds would return.

"Where could they be Shingo," Hotaru asked, sniffling.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "I'm not sure. Maybe… maybe they followed Usagi."

"Maybe," she whispered.

"We have to get to back to school somehow. I wish none of this had happened Ru. I miss my sisters."

"I miss my brothers too," she sighed. Then she looked up at him. "I miss them all. I want them to come home."

He sighed and they sat still, hoping the birds would return. He heard a whimpering sound, and at first he thought perhaps she was crying again. Then her head perked up.

"Did you hear that?" she asked. "It sounds like someone is crying."

"I hear it too," he told her and stood.

They searched around the yard and found nothing. Then, on the other side of the gate, they saw something crumpled into a heap. Rushing out, they knelt on either side of the bundle of fur.

"I think it's an animal," Shingo said quietly.

"It's two animals," Hotaru corrected.

She reached out and gently patted a dark patch of fur. It looked black, or possibly purple in the early morning light. There were silver patches dotted along. The other was mostly silver with a few black patches. Shingo was gently patting the other creature.

"Someone hurt these animals," Shingo said angrily. "Why would anyone do that?"

There were a few spots of blood on both canines, and the one that was mostly silver appeared to have a break in its front right leg. The other had a burn over part of it's back.

"We have to get them inside," Hotaru said.

"Wait Ru, what about internal injuries?"

"They weren't left here Shingo. I think the black one dragged the silver one. If they had internal injuries they never would have made it this far."

Another whimper decided it for him and he gently scooped up the canine with silver fur. "Poor thing," he whispered. "It's okay. We aren't going to hurt you. Maybe Haruki can heal them, like he did with the people."

"I think that's just energy," Hotaru said. "They're so little. They can't be very old." She stood with the black pup in her arms, careful to avoid the burned area. "We're going to take care of you," she said and

Shingo realized the pup she was carrying had her bright blue eyes open. It was a female, and she looked very grateful. She gently licked at Hotaru's arm, which was close to her face. He hurried towards the door and kicked it several times. Their hands were full and he didn't want to drop the pup he was holding.

Fiore opened the door, looking worried, and then sighed in relief when he saw them both.

"It's okay!" he shouted. "It's Shingo and Hotaru! They're safe."

"Thank Kami!" Setsuna said quietly. She hurried in, followed by Haruki.

"We need help," Hotaru said quietly. "They're hurt."

"Bring them to the table then," Setsuna said, and they followed her in.

Shingo wasn't sure what to do. He was afraid just putting the pup down would hurt him worse. Finally he bent and half slid him onto the surface. He bit his lip, praying the dog would be alright.

:: Not a dog, :: he heard a young male voice in his head, and stared down at the pup, whose eyes were open now. :: Thank you for helping me. ::

"If you aren't a dog, what are you?" he asked.

:: I'm a Lunarian wolf, :: the pup exclaimed in his head. :: I'm your guardian. ::

:: Not until you're better, you aren't, :: came a female voice, also sounding quite young.

"She's right," Shingo said. "You really aren't in a position to be guarding anyone. Until you get better we can guard you."

A mental sigh followed his words. He wanted to laugh, but the situation was too serious. He knew nothing of broken bones, and none of them could go out, so they couldn't take them to the vet.

"I think I can help," Fiore said. "I can at least set the bone and start the healing, but it won't be an instant cure, I'm afraid."

"I can treat the burns on her," Haruki said.

:: Where is the Earth Prince? He can heal us. ::

:: He isn't here right now, obviously. Use your nose Tomatsu. :: The female wolf pup licked his face. :: You must be hurt worse than I thought. ::

:: All I can smell is burned fur and ashes. :: Tomatsu explained. :: Help Tsuki please. ::

"I will, just give me a moment," Haruki said. "I have to go get the first aid kit."

"So, you're Tsuki?" Hotaru asked, petting the female with mostly black fur.

:: I am. ::

"And this is Tomatsu?" she questioned.

"He is."

"Okay, Hotaru, Shingo, both of you go wash your hands and change your clothing," Setsuna ordered.

Shingo knew what she was doing, but he didn't dare argue with the stern tone in her voice. He grabbed Hotaru by the hand and pulled her out of the room and toward the stairs. Sets was right. Neither one of them needed to hear a bone repaired or burns treated. But something told him they wouldn't be spared from those things forever.

* * *

 **Shikine-Jima, Japan**

* * *

Usagi felt silly at first. She was supposed to meditating, but it was not something she'd ever tried before and she didn't know if she was doing it right. With a sigh she settled again, trying to be comfortable enough to sit for a long period of time, but not so relaxed that she fell asleep. That would be highly embarrassing.

A sudden flapping sound caught her attention, but she didn't open her eyes. A familiar weight settled on her shoulders. Phobos and Deimos. She sighed gratefully. Perhaps their presence would help. They had become very much a part of the teens existence at home.

She wanted to peek, see how the other three were doing, but she kept her eyes closed. She let her mind wander over all the things that were bothering her. She wasn't supposed to shove those thoughts away, but to let them happen in the background.

One of the monks had said she needed to be aware of her breathing.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

 _Her mind slowly began to clear and a vision formed._

 _She was standing alone, watching a strange mist. Nothing felt real. Something was chasing her, but she didn't know what it was. The mist covered everything in darkness. It whispered things of evil._

 _A man and a woman stepped forward and walked into the mist. The man fought against it, but the woman did not. Another pair followed them into the mist. When the second woman fought the mist, the first attacked her verbally._

 _Another pair, again the man fought, except this time, the first man, and the second man fought with the first woman. The cycle continued. As more did not fight and were overcome by the whispers they grew angrier and angrier until they physically harmed any who tried to fight._

 _A tear fell. A single tear from the heavens. It dropped into the mist and spread a light inside until the mist began to burn away._

 _Usagi heard a voice in the darkness. "They Crystals must heal them," it said._

The vision stopped. Everything stopped.

 _She stood on a grey-white surface that seemed to glow. Above her was a curtain of black sprinkled with tiny stars. She spun in a circle, delighted, and caught sight of what looked like a giant shooter marble. Until she looked more closely. Laying below her was the Earth, half risen over the horizon, like the moon when it came up into the sky at night. She smiled._

 _"Find their crystals," came a voice behind her. Again she turned. The most beautiful woman she had ever seen stood before her in a sparkling white dress that caught and reflected the light. Usagi sucked in a breath in wonder. "Find their crystals and you can set them free."_

 _"Their crystals?" Usagi asked. "How can I find them?"_

 _"Each one is of a different element. Ice, Fire, Storms, Wind, and the Sea. I have done what I could to remove them from the harm of dark influence," she added. "They have been under far too long, and there will be dangers, but you must take up this quest my daughter. It cannot wait."_

 _"I have to find the elements?" she asked._

 _"You must find the Crystals… but remember who else they are. What other element they possess. It is for them you must search. When you have them, the others will return to you. Until then, they can never be freed."_

 _"A different element," Usagi said aloud. "Like the planet elements?" she asked._

 _"Yes my daughter. You must find them. Bring them home. But remember, you do not undertake this task alone. Each of you has a purpose. Trust the others, and trust in yourself and the Crystal you carry."_

 _"The Crystal is missing," Usagi told her. "I don't know where to look."_

 _"Within yourself," the woman said, her silver hair shaking as she turned her head to stare at the Earth. "You already know it is there. You can feel it, sometimes."_

 _"You mean, I've had it all along? I could have stopped all of this?"_

 _"No child," she smiled. "You are unprepared, and untrained. As you overcome, you will learn. Do not give up your search. Be safe, and be loved." She began to fade._

 _"Wait!" Usagi cried. "Can't I at least hear your name?" she longed for this woman who called her daughter. She missed her parents dearly, and this woman in a very strange way reminded her of them._

 _"You already know it," the woman said as she disappeared._

The vision stopped. Everything stopped.

 _Usagi was in a world of brown and red. There was so much heat around her. Taking a breath was difficult through the ash and the sulfur. Heat. Unbearable heat._

 _Opening her eyes, Usagi nearly fainted. She stood on a strange stone outcropping, looking out over a sea of red. She stood in the center of a volcano. Across from her she could see another outcropping, and on it stood a strange pedestal holding something sparkling a brilliant shade of red, different from the sea of molten lava. It seemed muted somehow, dimmed. As though it should be a beacon of hope, and was not._

 _She carefully looked around herself, spinning in a circle. There was only one stone on the first pedestal, but behind her, on another, lay another stone. A Crystal. This one was green, but in the center there was a red stone as well, somehow attached to the first as though they had grown together. She didn't know what it was called, but it was beautiful. A shadow hovered over the Crystal, blocking it from the light. It sparkled only occasionally, and all its light was reflected across the field of lava to the other Crystal._

 _She wished she could see the other. Suddenly she found herself standing in front of it. It was a Ruby Crystal, shining and reflecting all it's light back to the other Crystal. It too was covered in shadow, dimming what should have been an incredibly beautiful shimmering Crystal. Usagi wanted to weep at the agony that must have caused such a shadow._

 _She had to find out where this place was._

 _As soon as she had the thought a scream of rage entered the air and she looked up to see a hovering dragon. She covered her head with her arms instinctively and ducked away from it._

"Usagi!" Minako said, shaking her shoulder.

She realized she was screaming, and opened her eyes. One of the monks knelt in front of her with a small cup. He held it to her mouth and she sipped gratefully, unsure what it was she drank.

"I think… I think I found one," she whispered.

* * *

 **Tokyo, Japan**

* * *

The phone rang and Haruki hurried to pick it up. "Moshi Moshi," he said quietly into the receiver.

"Is Chiba-san available?" a harried voice asked.

"No, I'm sorry, he isn't." Haruki said, worried and nervous. He couldn't tell anyone Mamoru was out of town.

"Could you give him a message for me please?" the voice asked.

"Of course. May I ask who is calling?"

"This is Doctor Sato," the man said quietly. "I'm sorry, but I can't let Mamoru work here anymore," he said, all in a rush. "My family's safety, you understand? He is often seen with those girls. Now I don't think they did anything wrong, but with the riots and their places of employment being burned…"

"Wait! What was burned?" he asked.

"Not just the middle school," Doctor Sato said. "The places those girls worked and an herbalist shop as well. Their names were scrawled all over the building. I have kids, you understand?"

"I do understand," Haruki said quietly. "I'm sorry."

"Me too. Please tell Mamoru-san if this ever does calm down he can come back."

"I will."

He heard the click of the line and turned to see the others had gathered around him. Hotaru had Tsuki in her arms and Shingo was holding Tomatsu. Artemis and Luna were perched of Fiore's shoulders, both looking calm, if one didn't notice their twitching whiskers. Setsuna looked nearly panicked, wringing her hands.

"What burned?" Fiore asked, sounding sad.

"The middle school, the herbalist shop, and the Crown arcade and fruit parlor."

"Call the Furuhatas now!" Setsuna ordered.

Haruki could only nod, as he watched the tears streaming down her cheeks. The phone only rang once when Etsuko picked up.

"You're okay!" she shouted. "Oh, we didn't know."

"Furuhata-san," he whispered. "I'm so sorry… We just heard."

"It happened in the middle of the night. No one was hurt," she hurried to reassure him. "We haven't been to see the damage yet. I don't want the kids near there. You keep those girls hidden and safe!"

"Hie," Haruki said. "I don't know what we can do to help. We have enough to restore the buildings. I'll have our lawyer call you," he added.

"That's fine. Whatever. I'm serious Haruki-kun! Keep them safe!"

"We will."

"You kids take care of yourselves. Don't go out unless it's strictly necessary," she ordered.

"I promise."

"I'll send Motoki over later with groceries and your school work."

"Arigato," Haruki said, swallowing a lump in his throat. "I'm really sorry," he whispered again.

"it isn't any of your fault. I've been saying it since my Unazuki was attacked by those boys. People in this city are going wrong. They're changing. Those girls did a good thing. And I saw on the news they also saved a couple cats. Good for them, but don't let those cats be seen!"

"We won't."

"Tell Mamoru and Kunzite... tell them to watch those precious girls."

"I will. Thank you."

"Be safe. All of you," she whispered, and then the line clicked as she ended the call.

He couldn't help it. He sat heavily in a chair and covered his face in his hands. She was right. The people in Tokyo were changing. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't abandon them. He looked up at Setsuna.

:: It's okay, :: she said. Only he could hear her like this. It wasn't like with the pups where everyone knew what they were saying. :: We're going to be okay. ::

Both of them wished they believed it.

"Motoki should be here in a little while. He'd going to bring food and schoolwork for us. Until then, maybe we should do what homework we already have and then get started on lunch." Haruki tried to make his voice light, and show a smile.

"Okay," Hotaru and Shingo chorused, and they left the room, each carrying one of the pups.

Haruki's eyes followed them. He needed to make sure they stayed safe. He wanted to send them to Mamoru and the others, but the lawyer had stressed only those four were to leave. He bit his lip and stared up at Sets and Fiore.

"What are we going to do?" he asked finally.

"I don't know." Fiore sounded as sad as he felt. "I just don't know."

) * O * (

"It's bad, isn't it?" Hotaru asked Shingo. She twisted her shirt around her fingers.

"I think so. I think maybe they can't come back at all anymore."

She couldn't help crying. One tear fell, and then another and another. "I miss them," she whispered.

Shingo wrapped his arms around her. He really was her best friend, and she was so thankful to have him. She missed her brothers, and his sisters. And she missed her parents. She wanted things to go back to the way they had been before.

"It's okay," he whispered.

"How?" she asked, feeling angry. "How is it okay?"

"I don't know," he murmured. "I just know it will be."

 **) * O * (**

The phone was ringing. Setsuna dreaded the sound. Nothing good ever came of that phone ringing anymore. Anytime it had over the past two days the news was bad. Already it had been a rough morning. Holding a puppy still so his leg could be set was not the easiest task to ask someone. At least the kids had been spared the whimpers and cries of the poor wolf pup.

"Moshi Moshi," she said quietly, her heart in her throat.

"Setsuna, I'm sorry, but the girls have been banned from the school system. After the fires…" the lawyer trailed off sadly.

Their middle school had been burned down, and the apartment where they'd all once lived. The Fruit Parlor had been burned as well, and an attempt had been made to torch the arcade. Fortunately that building had been saved by a sprinkler system.

"What should we do?" she asked, tears coming to her eyes.

"My only option is homeschooling the girls."

"How?" she asked. "I thought it was part of the school system."

"It is, but the board left them that option. Of course, if Hakuna-Senshi hadn't gone to speak for them, I think even that would be closed. She agreed to act as a liaison."

"And the Furuhata family?" she asked. "Did you give them the money?"

"They accepted enough to repair the arcade on their son's behalf. But the rest of the family is leaving. They don't blame the girls, but they said they can't risk staying. Motoki is going to be moving in with you," he added.

Setsuna froze. That might be dangerous for him. If anyone discovered the girls lived here, or worse, learned the people here were the vigilantes, he could be in danger.

"But…" she didn't know how to respond.

"He is not as unprotected as you think," the lawyer said quietly. "He may not have powers like the city's new proctors, but he is protected in his own way." There was a long pause and Setsuna couldn't help the gasp that escaped.

"Say no more," he continued. "I can't come and see you yet. Not until I am sure no other attempts will be made to follow me. Just know I am here, and I support you completely." He stressed his words carefully. So he knew who they were.

* * *

 **D Point - The Arctic Circle - Dark Kingdom (Negaverse)**

* * *

Beryl stretched comfortably in her throne, crossing one leg over the other, exposing most of her leg in the process. She saw the two girls before her gulping nervously.

"You haven't come to tell me you've failed have you?" she asked.

Both shook their heads.

"No my Queen," said the tall blonde. "We have done as you asked. The people now hate the two girls and they have been exposed. Their home was torched, their school in ruins, their places of employment destroyed. They have nowhere to hide. Anyone who sees them will do as you bid. They will be captured and brought to us on sight."

"Good. Good. And the other task I set you? The prince and the rest? Have they yet been found?"

"Not yet my queen, but there is one we may ask. He has been hiding them from us." The girl with aqua hair bowed low. "We will continue our search for him. It is the only way to expose them."

"When you do… kill him. No one defies me."

"Yes my Queen," both murmured.

"I want them all found and brought to me. The princess will be right there, you see?" she pointed to the chains she'd had attached to the floor over a square of purple material. "And the prince shall be mine forever. She will be forced to see him bend to my will for eternity. A fitting punishment, don't you think?" she asked, laughing.

"Yes my Queen," the murmured again.

* * *

 **Shikine-Jima, Japan**

* * *

Usagi looked down at the list she had created. She'd worked on it since they'd left the temple, and her mind was centered on two of the names. She was nearly certain she knew where to find their stones. She wasn't sure if it would automatically free them, or if they had to return the stones and heal them at the same time. Nothing was certain. Nothing except the knowledge that they had to start searching.

 _ **Sailor Mercury** \- Ice, Fresh water, wisdom_  
 _ **South Knight** \- Ice, intelligence_  
 _ **Sailor Mars** \- Fire, battles_  
 _ **West Knight** \- Fire, Craftiness_  
 _ **Sailor Jupiter** \- Lightning, storms and growth_  
 _ **East Knight** \- Lightning, Astrology, Rebirth_  
 _ **Sailor Neptune** \- Sea, Music_  
 _ **Sailor Uranus** \- Wind, Speed, Duality_

"Starting to see a pattern," Minako mumbled. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" she asked.

Usagi nodded and set down her pen.

"Mars and West, extreme heat," Minako added. "That goes right along with your vision Usagi. I think you're right."

"I think we're all agreed it was more than just a normal meditation. The problem is locating the volcano. Is it here in Japan? Is it somewhere else? We don't know," Kunzite said quietly. "And once we locate it, how do we get down inside. And is it really a dragon guarding it? A Youma? One of the Dark Generals?"

"What about the others. Do we know anything about them?" Minako asked.

Usagi snorted. "Yeah. So for Mercury and South we are searching through the cold… But is it the cold north, or the cold south, or is it something else entirely?"

"I bet it's a mixture of factors," Mamoru said. "And I think we won't fully understand until we see each place. I wish we could remember our past lives."

"Jupiter and East… I don't know… where is the stormiest place on earth?" Usagi asked, changing the direction of the conversation before she was forced to think about some of her dreams.

"Not sure, but we could be looking wrong even if we go there. Maybe it is symbolic." Mamoru frowned and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Sailor Neptune would be the sea… maybe somewhere hard to access…" Kunzite paused. "Would it be somewhere also symbolic to Sailor Uranus or would it be separate?"

"I don't know," Usagi said, feeling extremely frustrated. "I mean, the clues were pretty vague. I got the idea that it is a quest. But where are we all supposed to go? Our world has been turned upside down, and now I think this is why."

Kunzite blushed and Minako fixed him with a glare. "What?" she asked.

His eyes wouldn't lift from the table. "It's worse than you think," he said finally."

* * *

 **Tokyo, Japan**

* * *

Kobayashi Akio answered the phone for what seemed the millionth time that day. Most of those calls he had immediately disconnected from. He was thankful he had no family to worry over. Only the kids he cared for. With a sigh he picked up the receiver.

"Please tell me it isn't true?" Usagi asked.

He knew her voice well. It had haunted his dreams after the incident on the train two years before. He'd never seen someone so frightened as he had when he'd picked up the pair of girls in the hospital. Their names had been wiped from the records of that incident of course. He had tried to keep all of them hidden since the girl was three. But now, there was no more hiding. Their heroics, while commendable, had drawn unwanted attention to them.

He could only pray to keep them safe and the others hidden. He'd done what he could in that area. The very next morning he had found the stasis chambers of their guides, hidden away for so long, and had broken them open, freeing the two felines.

He heard a sniffle over the line and remembered her question. "I'm sorry Usagi-chan, but it's true."

"The school?"

"Hie. Last night."

"And the herbalist shop?"

"Yes."

"And the Furuhata's stores?"

"Hie. Though the arcade is not badly damaged and can be repaired quickly. I already have a few calls in to contractors. If it helps, the Furuhata's don't blame you girls. They just want to keep you safe. Motoki is going to reopen and run the crown and move into the house with all of you. "

"We really are expelled?"

"I'm sorry Usagi-chan. Haruna-sensei is going to help you girls homeschool. But Usagi, I don't think you can come back yet. Not this week. You four need to buy a laptop and do your work online. I'm going to purchase one for your teacher as well."

"But what about the others?" Usagi asked.

"They have school and work, and a city to protect, don't they Usagi-chan?"

"You know?"

"Yes. Several of us have our memories from our past lives. Your parents did. They knew what they were doing, what they were taking on. Kunzite's parents did as well. And Mamoru's. It's why they were able to sense something was coming and hide you."

"You mean, they knew we were different?" she asked.

"Of course. They knew even before you were born and they loved you all so much Usagi."

Another sniffle came across the line. He felt horrible that she was going through so much at such a young age. When she didn't speak he knew he had to help. Perhaps reminding her of the quest would take her mind off of things for a time.

"Now, I know that you have something you have to do now. A task you have to undertake. The four of you have to start as soon as you can. Don't take the van once you get back to the mainland. Leave it parked and I'll have it picked up. We can't have anyone linking Motoki to you just yet."

"Why is he moving in?" she asked.

"Do you remember when the boys attacked Unazuki?" he asked.

"Hie. It was awful."

"Well, after that, the Furuhata's started talking about leaving. They've purchased a property in America, and because they have dual citizenship, they won't have any problems leaving. Only Motoki is staying."

"But it's dangerous to be near us," Usagi whispered.

He closed his eyes, and sighed. "He is safe, I promise you."

"What about… about my other friends."

"Safe."

"Thank the kami," she said quietly.

His heart was breaking for her all over again. He wished he could wave a magic wand and fix everything. None of this was how it was supposed to have gone. The Dark Kingdom had awakened early, and events had been set into motion long before they were ready.

"Be safe little one. I'll pick up a communicator so we can talk without a line like this. I've got it blocked for now, but I don't know how long that can last. My symbol is the hammer of Ganymede. It is right next to the Tree of Life for Fiore in the outer ring of contacts. Do you see it?"

There was a shuffle on the other end of the line and then, "Yes. Ganymede?" she asked.

"One of Jupiter's moons," he explained.

"Oh. Can I ask a question?"

"Of course."

"If you were to think of a volcano and Sailor Mars, what would come to mind?"

"There are more than a hundred here in Japan, and others around the world. What type of volcano?"

"There are types?" she asked, sounding confused.

"Yes. Now, did you have a vision?" he asked.

"I did. I was in a round place and there was a lake of lava."

"Okay, that narrows it down. There are very few volcanoes with active lava lakes. None of those are in Japan. However Sakura-jima is almost constantly active and has been for many years. You could go there first, and check. There may be small craters that are unexplored or even hidden from normal eyes. There are several others that are nearly always active as well. Check those before leaving Japan. I have to prepare a passport for each of you otherwise."

"Okay. Thank you."

"And Usagi-chan?"

"Hmm?"

"Please be safe."

"We will. Thank you."


	6. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:** You wouldn't believe the amount of research I've done for this story already. I think it might be more than all the other stories I've written combined. I think this chapter and last chapter alone I must have put in about ten hours. And there is so much more to come. I have been writing ALL DAY for one chapter! Yes, it's super long, but it was mostly the research.

I really hope you are enjoying this story. If you are, please review! I really do need the feedback.

* * *

 **Unknown Force:  
Quest for the Crystals**  
 _Chapter Five_

* * *

 **Tokyo, Japan**

* * *

Rei paced back and forth across the basement floor. Morga wasn't taking energy quickly enough, and it was driving her absolutely mad. Not only that but she wasn't acting properly. She had scared off several customers and the girl that lived above the store with her mother (who was currently in a deep sleep, tied up in the basement) had grown suspicious.

That was a horrible turn of events. Making the humans suspicious was the last thing they wanted. Even with the change in behavior caused by the Youma as they drained energy, they could not afford to be caught outright. Especially considering it could lead to a killing.

None of them had yet caused a death, in spite of being forced to obey. Rei didn't want to be the first. She was frustrated enough by the injuries caused during the riots.

She turned and glared at Morga. "First, you are not to interact with the customers until they make the purchase. From this point forward, I will do that. Second, you will have no other interaction with the girl. She is leaving to spend time with her boyfriend. You say nothing. Simply nod and act distracted. Do I make myself clear?"

Morga smirked at her. "Fine."

Jadeite stepped forward and for a moment Rei was worried he might instantly destroy the Youma, but instead he walked up to it. "If you show disrespect, or fail us again, I will destroy you," he told it.

) * O * (

Shingo and Hotaru brought the pups out to play in the backyard. It didn't really matter that they were extremely intelligent Lunarian Wolves. What mattered was that they were still pups. And Shingo and Hotaru were both young too. Still young enough to want to play and have fun.

:: What is this? :: Tsuki asked, looking at the object in Hotaru's hand.

Tomatsu shifted nervously, his head cocked to the side questioningly as he looked at the similar object Shingo held. He couldn't help but laugh. "We're going to teach you a game."

:: What is it called? Do I have to do anything? ::

"Just watch what we do, and you'll know instinctively," Hotaru explained. She pulled her arm back and threw the object. Shingo did the same with his, though not as far since Tomatsu was still injured.

The ball Hotaru threw bounced several times before rolling as far as the wall and hitting it, returning by several feet. Shingo's throw didn't go nearly as far, but he was sure Tomatsu didn't mind as his leg probably pained him a bit, though Fiore said it was mending nicely. He hopped over on three legs to get it and turned around happily. Meanwhile Tsuki was running in circles with hers, a laughing Hotaru holding her sides in mirth.

Tomatsu limped his way back. :: Again please? :: he asked.

Tsuki meanwhile, was mentally shouting, :: I love it! I love it! Mine! What is this called? ::

"That is a ball, and the game is fetch." Hotaru said, still laughing. "Earth dogs enjoy it, especially when they are puppies. It reminds them of hunting, I think."

"As you get older you will have to train differently, I'm sure. But Fiore and Setsuna said you can do things like play fetch and tug-of-war now and it will help you." Shingo smiled. He'd never had a dog, and he thought the pups were wonderful, but he wasn't sure Tomatsu would be very playful.

Tomatsu dropped the ball in his palm. Ignoring the slight amount of slobber, Shingo threw it again. He tried not to throw it too far for the injured pup.

Tsuki had not yet relinquished the ball in her mouth and was jumping back and forth excitedly. He met Hotaru's gaze. She rolled her eyes.

"Tsuki, you have to give it back before I can throw it again." Hotaru explained.

Tsuki finally came forward and reluctantly released the ball. The moment Hotaru moved her arms to throw it again she was off like a flash. Both of them laughed at her exuberance.

* * *

 **Shikine-Jima, Japan**

* * *

"Are you seeing this?" Usagi asked, looking up at Minako.

Her sister sighed. I can see it quite clearly. "We'll just have to keep the van with us, or rent one," she said, sounding frustrated.

Usagi only nodded. It was going to be a long trip. Especially considering that most of it was over or through mountainous territory. But she didn't think either she or Minako could handle the train. She wished they had a better understanding of teleportation. Mamoru insisted they didn't know enough to safely travel somewhere unknown. It was frustrating.

"So we drive to Azuma first, thats a four-hour drive. Over three-hundred kilometers. We have to climb of course." Usagi frowned. "Then we can drive from there to Mount Kasatsu, which is another nearly four hundred kilometers. We're dropping Motoki's van off in Tokyo, so that means we have to rent a car or van. Do we have any idea how much this is going to cost?"

Minako snorted. "Usagi, do you have any clue how much money we actually have?"

She shook her head. She'd always just assumed they were barely scraping by. Their lawyer made sure they stuck to their budget.

Mamoru poked his head in from the kitchen where he and Kunzite were cooking. "We have enough so that none of us ever have to work a day in our lives and we'd still be living pretty."

"Then why did we live in the tiny apartments for so long?" Usagi asked.

"So we didn't just assume the money would always be there, I think." Kunzite said, coming in from the other room with bowls and spoons. Usagi was grateful. She didn't care for chopsticks, being a klutz meant she spilled more than she could consume if she used them.

Phobos sqwaked at Kunzite and flew to a different chair. The birds had simply shown up when Usagi was having her vision. None of them were sure if they had flown the whole way or simply rode on the van. She figured, based on her vision, that they were somehow important to the quest. But both seemed to take up whatever cause Usagi and Minako wanted as though what they spoke was right. She thought perhaps they sensed their charges could be freed if they helped.

"This would all be so much easier if we could just teleport," Minako said, echoing Usagi's earlier thoughts.

"It's not safe," Mamoru insisted, coming into the room with a dish of food. Kunzite set the bowls on the table and the two of them began spooning the meal into them.

Minako stuck her tongue out at him. "We'll never learn if we don't just do it," she complained.

"So we take the ferry back tomorrow morning, and then drop Motoki's van at his house right?" Usagi asked. She was nervous about being in Tokyo again, but she really wanted to see the others.

Kunzite nodded. "We can just take a bus from there."

"I still say we should just cut out the extra travel and go to Sakura-jima first. It would keep us out of Tokyo completely." Usagi thanked the Kami for the meal and then thanked Mamoru and Kunzite for preparing it. "Then we can just teleport home and then back here before we leave."

"You're welcome. I know he suggested Sakura-jima but if we go straight there we can't drop off Motoki's van," Kunzite said, sounding incredibly reasonable.

Usagi stuck her tongue out at him.

"Kobayashi-san said he would pick it up though," Minako reminded him.

"That's a long way to go though. He'd have to drive to Shimoda and back." Kunzite was frowning now.

"Or hire someone else to drive it back," Mamoru interjected.

"We could call him and Motoki and figure out what they want us to do," Usagi reminded them. "Plus, there's still the option of dropping off the van in Tokyo and taking a boat. Four of the six volcanoes are on that side of Japan, and we have to go out to sea for three of them. It's not like we can avoid the water."

"That's half the reason I want to do the ones on this side of Japan first," Kunzite said. "Not to avoid the water, but because they are the least likely, and we don't want to have to come all the way back from a sea voyage and then drive a bunch of miles."

"Kobayashi-san said Sakura-jima is our best bet," Minako insisted and Usagi nodded emphatically.

"All I know is that I want to see the others before we go," Usagi reminded them with a sigh.

"That I think we can all agree with," Mamoru said quietly, "but we need to talk to Kobayashi-san first. Let me see this list again."

Usagi handed him a packet of papers, then slid one to Minako and another to Kunzite. She stared down at her own. "The top six are the ones in Japan. I've added all the travel paths to each one including distance and time to travel."

 **Honshu**  
Azuma  
Kusatsu-Shirane

 **Kyushu Islands**  
Kirishima  
Sakura-jima

 **Ryukyu Islands**  
Kuchinoerabu-jima  
Suwanose-jima

Mamoru frowned as he looked down the list. "These other ones are in some strange places. I don't know if it's safe to go to the Congo, and we would need some serious gear for the one in Antarctica. I think maybe we should just focus on Japan for now."

Usagi sighed. "I just looked up the volcanoes," she said. "I only know what I saw, and that was a lake of lava."

"Are we even sure the volcano is one that is listed?" Minako asked. "There are 118 here in Japan, and there have to be thousands around the world."

"Look at the list again," Kunzite said. She wondered if he had picked up her reasons for choosing the ones he had. "All of these are either active now, or have warning signs that they are going to be active again soon. And if you look at the worldwide list, it's only volcanoes with actual lava lakes."

 **Active Lava Lakes - Worldwide**  
Nyiragongo - Democratic Republic of Congo  
Kilauea Halemaʻumaʻu - Hawai'i (Big Island)  
Erta Ale - Ethiopia  
Mount Erebus - Antarctica  
Villarrica - Chile

"According to my research," Usagi said, then paused while everyone snorted. She frowned at them. In the past two years she had grown and matured. She really wished they wouldn't still laugh. When their amusement faded she continued. "According to my research we are in what is called the ring of fire, which is the most active place for volcanic activity. Japan is at a junction of four of the major tectonic plates. That's why we have so many volcanoes and earthquakes."

"Which plates?" Minako asked.

"North American, Pacific, Eurasian and Philippine," Usagi said. "It's on page two. I've listed numbers of volcanoes by country and included the other areas that are part of the ring of fire. I think maybe New Zealand is another area we could look."

Mamoru looked through the rest of the packet quietly and then turned and smiled at her. "I'm sorry Usagi. You've obviously put a lot of time and effort into this. We shouldn't have laughed."

Usagi smiled back. It made her feel better that he realized how hard she had worked. It had taken her most of the day to compile everything and type it at the junior high library. She'd been really lucky it was open and they had allowed her to use the computer and printer.

"Okay, I propose we call Motoki and our lawyer and get ideas from them on what Tokyo is like right now. It may not be safe to drive back there, but, we could try teleporting into the house as long as the others know we are coming so they don't get in the way. If it isn't safe to go back to Tokyo, we can go to Sakura-jima first like Usagi asked. Though I suggest we drive it. All in favor?" Mamoru said all of this while holding on to Usagi's hand. She was grateful he saw how important this was to her.

Usagi, Minako, and Kunzite all agreed to the plan.

) * O * (

"So we have been forbidden to go to Tokyo with the van," Kunzite said, startling Minako. She was trying to make sure they had everything. "Motoki is going to have a friend pick it up from Shimoda. He lives near there and is planning to go to Tokyo next week. He was planning to take the train, but if we leave enough yen for gas he actually won't have to pay anything. It would be helping a friend."

"So then how are we getting to Tokyo to visit?" Minako asked, putting her notes into her bag.

"We're just going to find a hidden corner of the park there in Shimoda and transform, then teleport to our sitting room at home," Kunzite said, handing her a couple of pens that had fallen to the floor.

"Are we just spending the one night?" Minako asked.

Kunzite nodded and handed her a tank top he found on the bed. "You ready?"

She nodded and hurried to see if Usagi was done as well. Kunzite and Mamoru had packed the night before, but both girls had been busy making notes and plans. They had to decide what gear to buy for their trip and take it back to the house to put it into their bags.

The guys seemed to think they could just pick things up as they went along, but Minako and Usagi had become list makers and planners in their household and often did most of the shopping. They knew from experience that impulsive shopping often led to the wrong purchases.

Usagi was already packed and had made up baggies of cut vegetables and crackers. They all left the house, locking it carefully and putting the key back where it had been hidden. In moments they were in the van and ready to catch the ferry.

) * O * (

Usagi was staring up at a mountain with steam rising from the peak. A wreath of snow encircled the top of the mountain, but where the steam rose, the slopes were dry and brown. Puffs of thick white vapor escaped from the pinnacle in little waves.

 _Feeling pulled, Usagi began to climb the slope. Her muscles didn't ache and each step took her further than she thought possible. In moments she was at the top, looking over the lake of fire she had seen in her vision. The Crystals were both there, sitting on their pedestals._

 _Looking carefully over the edge, she could see a small area that didn't look dangerous to climb down, and she made her way towards it, taking the path the switch backed around a large stone outcropping. The crater was much deeper than she had imagined, and though the path was clear, it took much longer to climb down than it had to scale the entire mountain only moments before._

 _Finally, she reached the green Crystal with the red Crystal attached in the center. Carefully she reached her hand out to pick the stone up. Her hand passed through. She looked up and down the pedestal. Perhaps there was some instruction. Engraved at the bottom was a single word. Cerbero._

 _She didn't understand the word. It wasn't written in Japanese, or in English. Usagi rolled her eyes. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. She peered across the small lake of lava. She could see a path leading around one side, but it was treacherous. She could climb back to the top, but she didn't see a path down on that side. It was sheer._

 _Carefully she made her way along the treacherous path, terrified she would lose her balance and fall into the lake of fire. For several steps she held her breath, her mind racing with panic, until the trail widened and she could walk easily again. She made her way to the second pedestal. Again, she reached for the Crystal, and again, her hand passed through without touching._

 _Remembering the word on the first one, she looked at the bottom. Cherufe. She made her way back to the other side, a bit more sure than before, and climbed the path to the top of the crater. Looking carefully at the landscape she tried to mark the location in her mind. Every time she focused on a landmark the entire world seemed to blur. She couldn't make any of the details clear in her mind._

 _She stepped down and made her way from the peak. Looking back she noted the snow. How had she forgotten that? She had to remember the snow and the smoke. Her mind conjured a picture of a word on a pedestal, but she couldn't remember what it was. With a sigh, she looked up and carefully focused her mind._

Usagi sat up and grabbed a pencil from her backpack. **Smoke**. She wrote the word at the top of her packet, which was still sitting next to her on the seat. She frowned. Why was she supposed to remember it? Mamoru groaned and sat up next to her. She blinked and stared at him. Her neck ached from sleeping with her head back over the top of the seat. She rubbed it and moaned at the pain.

"I had a dream," she said and he turned to look at her. "I just know I'm supposed to remember the word smoke. I don't know why."

Mamoru nodded. "Do you remember any of the dream?"

"I was in the place with the Crystals that I saw in my vision. It's vague and blurry except for that part of it," she explained.

"Did you get any clues as to where it might be?"

"No. It's all fuzzy. There were words too, but I can't remember them."

* * *

 **Tokyo, Japan**

* * *

Naru and Umino hugged each other hard. She hadn't realized just how upset she had been. He ran his hands down her shoulders, looking her over carefully.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked suddenly. "You're shaking."

She nodded and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Sorry, I just need a minute."

He put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her along, further and further away from the jewelry store. She looked behind her once and saw the caricature of her mother smiling and waving. A shudder ran through her.

"What is going on?" Umino asked quietly.

"I'm not really sure," she answered honestly. "No one is acting right anymore. Minako and Usagi are just gone. Their family won't leave their property. Motoki said he is bringing their groceries to them," she shook her head sadly, then waved her arm at the destruction all around them.

"Somehow OSA-P didn't get destroyed. That's something at least," Umino said, looking where she'd pointed.

This was not the Tokyo they knew and loved. People in Japan didn't deface property, or destroy things. Large words were spray painted all over the arcade however, not hidden in the least by the smoke damage. Across the street the Fruit Parlor was a burned out husk. Broken glass littered the streets. Bottles and pipes and heavy wrenches sat in the gutters, a reminder of the violence of the riot.

"Listen," Umino said quietly. "I live less than a block away from their new place. I think maybe we should stop by and see them. Maybe they can tell us where Minako and Usagi are."

Naru hugged him excitedly. "That would be great." She grabbed his hand and just held on tight. Right now she needed to feel safe and cared for. "I think maybe we might let them know a bit of what it's like out here," she whispered, "but we don't want to go into too much detail."

Umino nodded emphatically. "You know Usagi. She's going to be blaming herself. But I've been saying it for a long time. The people here are strange now. You can really tell when you leave town and come back."

Naru knew exactly what he meant. People in Tokyo weren't as polite as they should be. They frequently got into other people's business, and made anyone who helped someone else feel bad. Either with their words, or their actions. "I miss our city the way it was," she whispered.

"It's been bad for two years now," Umino said. "Somehow I think something is about to change.

) * O * (

Fiore bounced excitedly. He hadn't realized how difficult it would be to have his best friends gone even for a few short days. Usagi and Mamoru had always understood him better than anyone else. He was happy they were coming back, even if it was just for a single night.

Kunzite had contacted them to say they would be a bit late. They all had to do a bit of shopping before they arrived. He wasn't sure why that would take so long, but he really wanted them to hurry.

He washed the dishes while he waited, then watered all the plants in the house. That was another thing he shared with Usagi and Mamoru. The love of plants. He was sure it was a bit less important to Usagi, but she had joined in with the two of them even when they were little, learning to plant and weed and harvest alongside them.

The bell on the gate rang and he hurried over to the wall by the front door. Umino and Naru were waiting just outside. He pressed the intercom button. "Wait till it beeps and then push the gate open," he said. "Just make sure it latches closed behind you."

"Okay," Umino said and a moment later they were safely inside the walls. Fiore opened the door and ushered them inside the house. "Hey, Fiore," Umino said quietly.

"Hi. We've missed you guys. I haven't seen either of you in a while." Fiore gave each of them a hug and pointed out the guest slippers. "Minako and Usagi aren't here, but they should be back with the guys in a little while. Did you want to wait?"

Naru nodded and Fiore could sense a strong need in her to see her friends. Umino had already put his arm back around her. She seemed vary shaken.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Her mother is behaving strangely," Umino said, when Naru seemed unable to speak. "She didn't even care that the riot was right in front of their store, or that the Furuhata's stores were both torched. I'm going to bring her to my house for a bit."

"That's a good idea." He leaned forward and put a hand on Naru's shoulder. "I'll check it out," he said quietly.

Naru had once accidentally seen him without his disguise. She'd been seven or eight at the time, but she hadn't been the slightest bit afraid because he'd been busy playing with Mamoru and Usagi at the time. She had never judged him and had always kept his secret.

"We just have a little while longer to wait," Setsuna called out. "They're going to appear in the sitting room!" she hurried by without looking at him and ran into the kitchen. "Hotaru? Shingo? Please tell me you didn't add carrots!"

"We didn't!" Shingo said in an exasperated tone. "You think I don't know my sister?" He huffed loudly. "You'd think a girl named rabbit would actually like carrots."

"They're going to appear in the sitting room?" Umino asked, reminding Fiore that the two had heard.

He sighed. "Yeah. There have been some… changes."

"I knew it!" Naru said. "I just knew it was you guys. I saw on the news and you were fighting with them. So then that must mean Usagi and Minako are… which one is Moon and which is Venus?" she asked.

"Usagi is moon. Mamoru is Tuxedo Kamen. Minako is Venus, and Kunzite is North Knight," Shingo said, coming into the sitting room.

"Wow. I knew there was something different about all of you. You don't get crazy like some of the others. I just knew you were special."

Fiore smiled. He was relatively certain Naru had empathic abilities. She'd always had a sense of how people were feeling. Motoki was the same. Umino however seemed to sense things that might happen. He'd once come running up to their old apartment and poured baking soda all over the frying pan just as a fire started while Usagi was cooking.

Their friends would keep the secret.

* * *

 **Shimoda, Japan**

* * *

Mamoru was frustrated. He wanted to tear his hair out and scream. He glared at Usagi and Minako and pushed them a bit closer to the station, one hand on each of them. It was a long way to the shopping district, and he didn't want to hike the streets the whole way avoiding tourists and all the other people in the city.

"We can walk!" Minako yelled, turning around to glare at him and Kunzite. The other boy simply grabbed her hand and pulled her.

"We aren't going on the train!" Usagi screamed. Usagi yelled and pulled her away from him, trying to run from both of them. She and Minako turned and started running away. With a frustrated sigh, Mamoru caught up with them. He and Kunzite pulled them to a stop.

"It's too far, Usagi, and there are too many people." Mamoru tried to reason with her. "It's faster to take the train."

She shook her head wildly and backed away. Minako stayed close to her, arms tightly around her waist as both of them avoided Mamoru and Kunzite.

He threw his head back and screamed in frustration. "What the hell!" he yelled. "You're making us miserable!"

"No one said you had to come with us," Minako shouted. "We can go on our own! We won't go on the train."

Mamoru didn't understand. This was more than the hesitation he had seen in the past. He didn't know what to do. "Tell me why," he said, trying to keep his voice calm. "Why won't you go on the train? You've gone on it before."

"That was different. All of us were together," Minako mumbled.

He wanted to shake them. "Why won't you go on the train?" he asked again. "Tell me."

Minako and Usagi looked at each other, one of their 'twin looks' coming to the surface. They stared at one another for several long moments before both turned and shook their heads.

Kunzite stepped forward then, his face drawn into a mask of anger. "Mina, Usa… did something happen on the train?" he asked, his voice shaking.

Mamoru noticed a tear streaking down Usagi's cheek and horror filled him. Both girls had been thirteen two years before when they were hospitalized. None of them had known why they were there. Surely nothing could have happened to them. Then Minako and Usagi both nodded, and more tears began to fall.

Unable to bear the thought of anyone harming his little Odango, he pulled her into his arms, and just held her close. What could have happened to both of them?

"Okay," he said, holding her close. "We can walk. I'm sorry."

Kunzite agreed. "It's not a problem. We can just let the others know we're going to be a little bit later. It's no big deal."

) * O * (

The electronics store was small but it had what the needed. Four laptops. Mamoru picked black for himself and Kunzite and silver for the girls. He found headphones for them so they could each do their lessons.

Then he made sure he purchased a portable hotspot. The clerk helped him set it up and pay for it. He was grateful. He had never used one before and had no idea how they worked.

School supplies purchased he walked out and found Kunzite. The other boy was frowning as he held the package that had been waiting for them.

"They aren't back yet?" he asked, approaching his brother.

Kunzite shook his head. "I don't know how long it's supposed to take," he said with a frown.

Mamoru shrugged. He didn't either. Just then he heard the giggling of the girls and turned to see them, loaded down with bags but still managing to eat chocolate pocky.

* * *

 **Tokyo, Japan**

* * *

Mamoru stepped back and turned around to see the others. Fiore had him in a bear hug before he could even blink. Then he was dropped unceremoniously while his friend grabbed Usagi. He laughed and turned to greet Setsuna and Hotaru who were both clamoring for hugs. He hadn't even put the bags down and already his arms were full again.

He smiled widely at everyone. Usagi and Minako gave a loud squeal and both went running toward one of the couches. He turned in time to see Naru and Umino bowled over by their enthusiasm. Both were hugged to within an inch of their lives.

A lot of whispering passed between the four of them and more squeals were heard, then they seemed to grow somber and Usagi and Minako looked sad. He wanted to rush over and see what was wrong, but Haruki stopped him.

"You can't protect them from everything," he said sadly. "They need to really understand why it isn't safe for them right now."

Mamoru looked at the redhead dejectedly. The two girls had seen far too much in their lives. He still didn't entirely understand what had happened on the train, but he thought it had been about two years before. That's when the nightmares had started, and both girls had become more serious. They'd also been avoiding trains ever since then.

He nodded though and followed Haruki out of the room.

"So, what took so long?" Setsuna asked giving him a third hug in as many minutes.

"Did you see all those bags?" he asked with a grin. "Usagi and Minako insisted on being the ones to shop for supplies while I got the laptops for school and Kunzite got what Kobayashi-san sent us."

"What did he send?" Haruki asked curiously.

Mamoru snorted. "Passports, yen, and the slip of a rental car that he put under a different name so that no one could locate us."

"Why?" Setsuna pulled them both into the kitchen so she could finish working while they talked.

"We may have to leave the country. Usagi has made an extensive lists of possible volcanoes to check, and while six of them are here in Japan, none of those have lava lakes. The other five are scattered around the world." Mamoru shook his head. "I'm really hoping we find what we need here though. I'd rather not have to go to the Congo. All I ever hear about from that area is war."

Haruki shrugged. "Maybe by then you'll have the hang of teleporting. You didn't crash into a table this time."

Mamoru chuckled. Kunzite was never going to live that down. "The only thing that really worries me is teleporting somewhere we don't know. Or teleporting and not knowing if people are going to be in the way. We could hurt someone."

Haruki nodded. "You could pull a Shingo," he snickered.

"A Shingo?"

Setsuna started to giggle. "He somehow managed to teleport us to the moon when he was trying to get us out of danger the other day." She stirred their dinner and then turned back to get another hug.

) * O * (

Fiore watched Minako and Usagi carefully. They seemed extremely depressed. He wanted to find out exactly what Naru and Umino had said to them, but the two girls were just sitting there on the couch, huddled together.

He went and sat in the chair next to their small couch. "You two okay?" he asked. "I promise I'll check on Naru's mom," he added.

"Thanks Fiore," Usagi said. "I just can't help worrying about the city though. Minako and I have known for a long time that people weren't right here anymore, but all this…" she trailed off, looking defeated. "How do we fight this?"

"One person at a time, I imagine," Luna said, coming into the room, Artemis on her heels. The girls perked up and opened their arms for the cats who snuggled affectionately with them.

"I wish I could just make everyone better," Minako said sadly.

"Well we have a few things for you both that might help with that," Artemis told her, rubbing his head under her chin.

Both girls sat up straighter at his words and Fiore was thankful. He'd really been worried about both of them. The cats moved to the side and each of them did little backflips. Several items landed in front of them on the couch.

"These are for you Usagi," Luna said. "This is the Moon computer. I've created a program on it for you that will access everything we put into the computers we are creating in the command center. Everyone is getting one, but yours meets your strengths. Understanding people, and planning. I've got a function on there that lets you create battle strategies and you'll be able to learn from the masters."

"Minako, your computer will help you in setting up training schedules, teaching defensive strategies, and learning to access your powers. It is also linked to the command center and I think you'll be interested in some of the fighting styles we've loaded. Kunzite's is the same." He nudged the two computers forward with his nose.

"This is the Moon Wand," Luna said, dropping the little pink stick with a crescent moon into Usagi's lap. "With this you will be able to help those who are possessed and to heal certain types of injuries. Since you are linked to the Silver Crystal you can help people who have lost energy or have taken mental or emotional hurts. You can also heal injuries to the brain."

"And this is the Love Me Chain," Artemis said, dropping a golden chain into Minako's lap. It had hearts along the length of it, but at the end it looked like it could possibly harm an enemy. "It can be used to capture someone who is possessed, or to destroy a Youma."

) * O * (

Kunzite smiled at Hotaru and picked her up for a huge hug. "I hear you two have a couple new friends," he said in a quiet voice. "Where are they?"

"Upstairs napping. We crushed some Tylenol into their food," Hotaru said. "They were hurting and Fiore said it was okay as long as we used the kid stuff. It made them both a little sleepy though."

"Maybe I can go see them while the others are busy," he said, wanting to see the pair of Lunarian wolf pups for himself.

"Wait!" Mamoru said, coming out of the kitchen. "Luna said I have the ability to heal. I'm hoping I can try to fix the broken leg and the burns."

Shingo and Hotaru looked hopeful at that, and they all went up the stairs together. Kunzite was a bit amazed at his first sight of Tsuki and Tomatsu. Both were gorgeous. Tsuki was mostly black, though where the light came through the windows and touched her fur it almost seemed purple. She had patches of silver fur as well. Tomatsu was just the opposite, mostly silver with the same purple-black patches

He ran his fingers through Tomatsu's fur. It wasn't as coarse as he had expected. The pup blinked open his eyes and stared at him for a moment, then turned to look at Mamoru who was kneeling beside the bed his hands hovering over Tsuki.

:: You have to touch her, :: he explained. :: It won't work without physical contact. ::

Mamoru nodded and touched her head. She blinked open her silvery eyes and peered up at him. Kunzite was entranced. Both animals were stunning. Golden sparks erupted from Mamoru's palms and sunk into Tsuki. She let out a sigh and then was rolling happily on her back a moment later.

:: That feels so much better! :: she exclaimed. :: Heal Tomatsu too please? ::

"Okay," Mamoru said, and moved his hands to touch the other pup. The golden sparks stayed longer this time as Tomatsu had several burns and the broken leg. Once the healing was complete the pup thanked him and licked his hand.

Kunzite pulled Tomatsu into his lap and began pulling off the improvised cast Fiore had made. Mamoru pulled the bandages of Tsuki while he did the same to the pup in his arms. A moment later both were shaking out their fur and looked happily up at them.

) * O * (

Setsuna smiled as she served dinner. It was nice to have the others home, even if it was only for one night. She took her seat next to Haruki and grabbed his hand. He thanked the kami for their meal and all of them began to eat. They talked over the plans for the other four to return to Shimoda the next morning.

Usagi and Minako seemed to be in better spirits. Fiore was making faces at them, causing both girls to laugh. Shingo sat very close to both of them, snuggled into the seat between them and talked about what had happened when he'd accidentally taken them to the moon.

As soon as dinner was over she pulled both girls into her old room. Most of the things had already been moved into Haruki's room and they looked around, curious at the change. She sat them down on her bed and crossed her legs as she joined them.

"I'm sharing a room with Haruki," she explained. "I want to explain a few things to you girls, and I want to ask you for a favor."

"What favor?" Usagi asked.

Setsuna sighed. "I want you to talk about what happened."

She watched their reactions. Both girls faces drained of color. Their eyes widened and their breathing sped up. They clutched at each other's hands, probably unconsciously.

"You don't have to tell me," Setsuna said. "Not right now. Not ever if you don't want to." She sighed. "But you have to deal with it. If you won't talk to me, or to Mamoru and Kunzite, then maybe you should see a counselor. Eventually you have to deal with it."

"But we promised," Minako whispered.

"Promised what?" Setsuna asked.

"Never to tell," Usagi moaned, covering her mouth with her free hand. "We said we'd never tell."

Setsuna sighed. "No matter what it is, I won't think less of you. Neither would Mamoru or Kunzite."

"It's not that," Minako said. "Or not only that," she added, biting her lip.

The two girls turned and looked at one another for what seemed like an eternity. Finally Usagi nodded and then Minako.

"You have to promise never to tell," Usagi whispered.

"What about Haruki?" she asked. Again they shared a long look.

"You can tell Haruki, but only if he promises never to tell." Minako said.

) * O * (

"I want to talk to both of you," Haruki said seriously.

Kunzite and Mamoru looked up. They'd been in the middle of planning for their trip and both turned to give him their full attention.

"What is it?" Kunzite asked.

"The Soul-Bond," Haruki said carefully. Neither seemed to understand. Haruki sighed and sat down.

"What's a Soul-Bond?" Mamoru asked, sounding concerned.

"It is what will happen to you and the girls when you become intimate," he said, choosing his words carefully. Usagi and Minako were more than his cousins. They were his baby sisters for all intents and purposes, and he wanted to protect them. He'd argued with himself over having this discussion with the other teens for several days, but Setsuna had convinced him that it was the best thing to do.

Both Kunzite and Mamoru seemed nervous. Neither spoke, but he could tell he had their full attention.

"Luna and Artemis had to explain it to us after it happened." Haruki pinched the bridge of his nose. "Apparently it is something that happened in our previous lives. There were three Venusian trials," he explained. They had something to do with Understanding, Honesty, and Love. Neither could remember all the details, but they did remember that if those trials weren't passed a Soul-Bond couldn't be formed. " He sighed, trying to word his instructions carefully.

"Each of us, Me and Setsuna, Kunzite and Minako, Mamoru and Usagi, even Hotaru and Shingo, as well as the others we are searching for were Soul-Bonded. We were several years older in our previous lives when that happened though. Now, all it takes to rekindle the Bond is to be physically, emotionally, and mentally open to each other. You have to know going in that you want each other for life. You have to trust each other, and you have to be intimate with each other."

He stared at each of them, hoping they understood what he was trying to say without him actually sayng the words. He really didn't want to urge them to do something. He just wanted them to know what would happen if they did make that choice.

"Setsuna and I accidentally reforged ours a few nights ago. It strengthened us dramatically. Our ability to link our powers grew. We can communicate without words, feel one another's emotions, and I could find Setsuna literally anywhere on the planet if she went missing."

Kunzite and Mamoru nodded, but stayed quiet. Both seemed to be digesting the information.

"Do you have any questions?" he asked, feeling a pressure he didn't understand to make sure they really understood.

Mamoru sighed. "The girls aren't ready for it," he said sadly.

"What makes you say that?" Haruki asked.

"The train," Kunzite answered for him. "They still won't tell us what happened on the train. Until they do, they obviously don't trust us completely. If they don't trust us completely, then it isn't time for that."

"We don't want to pressure them into doing something they really aren't ready to handle," Mamoru added. "Whatever happened, they are still healing from it."

Haruki nodded. He had very little knowledge about what had happened. He had been there when the two of them came home from the hospital, but at the time he hadn't known it was linked to anything that happened on a train. He'd never asked, or pressured them to tell, figuring they would when they were ready.

"I think they do trust you," he said finally. "I think they just aren't ready to face whatever it was. They still have nightmares about it."

Kunzite and Mamoru nodded. Of course they would know, especially having spent the last few days with them. He knew Kobayashi-san had hoped more would happen while they were on the island, and perhaps it still would, but he was glad that Kunzite and Mamoru weren't pushing the girls.

) * O * (

Usagi was happy to sleep in her own bed again.

Putting her packet next to her, she snuggled in under the covers and pulled her bunny blanket close. Luna curled up by her and Usagi ran her fingers through the soft fur. She heard a noise at her door and peeked her eyes open to look. Mamoru was checking on her.

Sure in the knowledge that she was safe and protected, Usagi closed her eyes and slipped into dreams.

 _Usagi was staring up at a mountain with steam rising from the peak. A wreath of snow encircled the top of the mountain, but where the steam rose, the slopes were dry and brown. Puffs of thick white vapor escaped from the pinnacle in little waves._

 _Feeling pulled, Usagi began to climb the slope. Her muscles didn't ache and each step took her further than she thought possible. In moments she was at the top, looking over the lake of fire she had seen in her vision. The Crystals were both there, sitting on their pedestals._

 _Looking carefully over the edge, she could see a small area that didn't look dangerous to climb down, and she made her way towards it, taking the path the switch backed around a large stone outcropping. The crater was much deeper than she had imagined, and though the path was clear, it took much longer to climb down than it had to scale the entire mountain only moments before._

 _Finally, she reached the green Crystal with the red Crystal attached in the center. Carefully she reached her hand out to pick the stone up. Her hand passed through. She looked up and down the pedestal. Perhaps there was some instruction. Engraved at the bottom was a single word. Cerbero._

 _She didn't understand the word. It wasn't written in Japanese, or in English. Usagi rolled her eyes. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. She peered across the small lake of lava. She could see a path leading around one side, but it was treacherous. She could climb back to the top, but she didn't see a path down on that side. It was sheer._

 _Carefully she made her way along the treacherous path, terrified she would lose her balance and fall into the lake of fire. For several steps she held her breath, her mind racing with panic, until the trail widened and she could walk easily again. She made her way to the second pedestal. Again, she reached for the Crystal, and again, her hand passed through without touching._

 _Remembering the word on the first one, she looked at the bottom. Cherufe. She made her way back to the other side, a bit more sure than before, and climbed the path to the top of the crater. Looking carefully at the landscape she tried to mark the location in her mind. Every time she focused on a landmark the entire world seemed to blur. She couldn't make any of the details clear in her mind._

 _She stepped down and made her way from the peak. Looking back she noted the snow. How had she forgotten that? She had to remember the snow and the smoke. Her mind conjured a picture of a word on a pedestal, but she couldn't remember what it was. With a sigh, she looked up and carefully focused her mind._

 _'Snow and smoke. Smoke and snow. Snow and Smoke. Smoke and snow.'_

Usagi sat up and instantly repeated the words to herself. "Snow and smoke. Smoke and snow." Grabbing her packet she saw the word smoke and wrote **snow** next to it. She groaned and rolled out of bed. Luna was gone. She sighed and went to the bathroom, quickly washing and brushing her teeth before going back to her room to pack, bringing her toiletry bag with her and putting it in the side pocket on her backpack. She could only really take one bag with her, so she wanted to be careful about what she brought.

Next she looked for clothing that would be better suited to their trip. She put on a single tank top, then a t-shirt, then her bunny sweater over that, layering what she had so she could keep more with her. She pulled on fresh underwear and bra as well as a pair of jeans. Her brooch went on the t-shirt before she zipped her bunny sweater partly. It was barely visible that way.

She would need another pair of jeans. But she would probably also want at least one pair of shorts. She slipped a pair of flip-flops into the front pocket of the bag, She put three changes of underwear and a sports bra into the bag. She added another tank top and two t-shirts in the bag and then found a long sleeve t-shirt as well.

She scrunched her nose wondering if she should take a skirt. Maybe they would go out to eat somewhere. She wouldn't want to wear dirty clothes. A skirt and maybe a blouse. She went to her closet and found a simple black skirt with pink trim and a black blouse with a pink heart on breast. That would have to do. They should roll up small enough. She slipped a pair of nice sandals that folded flat into the front pocket with the flip flops.

She looked over her supplies.

Laptop in it's protective plastic sleeve, mouse, mousepad, and headphones. The laptop itself could go into the padded back pocket of her backpack. The rest would have to go in one of the front pockets. Her pack of notes and a fresh composition notebook. Those could go with the laptop. Pencils and pens. There was a section for those in the front pocket. She slid them inside.

She frowned. The brooch had to stay on her. She didn't know where to put the disguise pen, or the new Moon Wand and Moon Computer that Luna had given her the night before. She finally slid the moon wand into the inside pocket of her sweater and the disguise pen and computer into a small front pouch on her bag.

Then her mind turned to survival gear. She had enough space for only a small kit. Each of them should have the basics, but she wasn't sure how much of those basics to divide between them. She went downstairs to the sitting room where everything was set out. She shook her head. Perhaps she and Minako had gone a bit overboard, but they thought it was all necessary.

She started sorting everything into piles. She pulled out the tins. Each received one of the lighters, two fishing hooks and a reel of fishing line, a whistle and signal mirror, and the little Mylar blankets. She opened the bottles of water purification tablets. There were two stages. She grabbed the tiny bags she had found and divided the pills evenly and wrote tiny directions with permanent marker before adding the pills to their kits. Water, Fire, Food, Shelter, Help. That should take care of the emergency portion.

There was no way they would all be able to carry large knives, so she and Minako had found smaller ones that could be used and they'd decided to buy larger ones when they got close. She put copies of the maps into four Ziploc bags. Hers she put into the pouch with her laptop.

There were collapsible water bottles for each of them, and each would get one of the flashlights. She sighed. There was a tarp for each of them too, as well as a length of rope and two carabineers. That only left the first aid kit and the compass. She wished she had thought to get four of each. She didn't want to take chances. If one of them got separated and lost they would need every chance of survival. She snorted at herself. It wasn't as though there weren't stores on the way there. She was relatively certain there would be shops with climbing and camping gear near each of the volcanoes.

She shook her head at her panic.

The others started gathering in the room with her. First came Shingo and Haruki, who both wanted extra hugs and to give her a million warnings about being careful.

* * *

 **D Point - The Arctic Circle - Dark Kingdom (Negaverse)**

* * *

Ami frowned as she listened to Rei.

"We can't get caught at this point," she hissed. "Metallia needs the energy, and Jed and I have already released a distraction Youma, but Morga is absolutely ridiculous. She doesn't act like a Youma at all!"

"Do you want me to try and replace her?" Ami asked, still unsure exactly what her friend wanted.

"I don't know!" Rei pulled at her hair in frustration. "I just know if this keeps on the mission will fail, which means all of us will be punished. I don't want to fail over a stupid Youma!"

Ami nodded. "Well Haruka and Michiru took my newest creation with them, so that one won't work."

She bit her lip, trying to think. She was very unhappy that the Youma hadn't been given the failsafe. It was meant to kill. Specifically to kill someone who had protected other kids from the life they were now living. It wasn't fair or right.

"What's wrong?" Rei asked, whispering.

"They've been sent on a mission to extract information and kill someone," Ami said quietly. "I don't want anyone to die." Again she bit her lip. She wished she had a book in her hands. They always calmed her.

"It's okay Ami," Rei said. "What happens, happens."

) * O * (

Queen Beryl watched the two girls talking with a vicious smile on her face. With their Crystals in her possession they had no choice to obey whether they liked it or not. Once she'd realized that she had stopped pouring dark energy into them daily and kept the amounts small and only when they seemed to be slipping. It seemed it might be time for Ami to go back into the chamber. And if Ami felt that way, her counterpart probably did as well. Zoicite would need another dose then too.

She smiled and snapped her fingers. There were several Youma she was sure would want to do the job.

"Take Ami and Zoicite to their chamber and lock them in," she ordered. "Three days should do it."

"Yes, my Queen," they chorused.


	7. Chapter 6

**Author's Notes:** I am so glad to get back to this story. You may not realize this, but I've had twelve stories in progress for months, and I try to update them all regularly, but lately I've been having computer problems and dealing with an awful case of writer's block. It's been just plain awful. But this is one of my favorite stories. It's vastly different than anything else I've done and is labor intensive as there has been a TON of research going into it. Plus my chapters for this story tend to be longer than others... roughly 8,000 words apiece. It is a labor of love however!

I finally did finish Losing Control, so I'm really happy about that. And I finished the third book in my Holiday Series and started the fourth, which I am really proud of. I wont stop writing or give up on any of my stories, no matter what. I love a good read as much as all of you. As my well-used Kindle and FanFiction apps could tell you. So, here's your next installment. Happy Reading!

* * *

 **Unknown Force:  
Quest for the Crystals**  
 _Chapter Six  
_

* * *

 **Tokyo, Japan**

* * *

Haruki frowned as he tried to soothe Setsuna. She had been crying most of the morning, and he wanted nothing more than to make all her problems disappear. It wasn't fair that they had to say goodbye to Usagi and the others again. And it wasn't fair that the Furuhata's were leaving later that afternoon. He loved them like family. They had been extremely supportive since their parents had died, and had welcomed them to family dinners, New Year's celebrations, and had even thrown them birthday parties. He would miss them greatly.

"Sets, we have to go down now," he said finally, rubbing her back.

She lifted her tear-stained face from the pillow and stared at him for a long moment before she nodded. "You're right. They're probably almost done packing by now," she said, and then sniffled. He handed her a tissue and she wiped her eyes and nose.

After Setsuna had washed her face with cold water, they made their way downstairs. Usagi was in the center of the sitting room, packages all around her as she divided supplies. Mamoru was busy trying to make the sleeping bags and pads as small as possible, but was keeping an almost constant watch on Usagi at the same time.

Haruki sighed. Setsuna had told him what happened on the train, and he finally understood their silence. He wasn't sure how Mamoru or Kunzite would react when the girls told them. They were overprotective and a bit bossy with the girls as it was, and he was afraid they would smother them if they knew. He was also quite aware that the secret had to stay just that. A secret. Once the guys were told, no one else could ever know.

Kunzite and Minako hurried in from the kitchen carrying food in zippered bags. He saw teriyaki strips and varieties of nuts as well as some vegetables and fruits that had been dehydrated. He couldn't help grinning when he saw Usagi eye the bags carefully to be sure there were no carrots. He'd never seen someone with such an aversion to the healthy snack.

"We don't have much room left," Usagi muttered, looking at the bags. "You all grabbed clothing right? And sweaters?"

Minako rolled her eyes. "We aren't stupid, you know."

"I didn't say you were," Usagi huffed. "I just want to make sure we have everything we need."

Luna came into the room and hopped onto Usagi's shoulder, rubbing her face on the girl's cheek. "Usagi-chan," the cat said, looking at everything spread out on the floor, "this isn't nearly enough to climb even one volcano."

"We can restock later Luna," Usagi murmured, rubbing her head. "But there just isn't enough room in the bags for more."

The cat gave a very human-like shrug. "Just stuff everything in your subspace pockets and call it good then," she said. It took her a moment to realize everyone in the room was staring at her, most with their mouths hanging open.

"Subspace pockets?" Haruki asked, feeling a bit confused.

The cat blushed, which was odd as she was a dark black with hints of purple. "Did I not tell you about that?" she asked in a small voice.

"Nope," Usagi said, lifting the cat and setting her on top of the crammed backpack in front of her. "Do go on," she added in a haughty tone.

Haruki snorted and Usagi giggled.

Luna sat primly. "Your subspace pocket is part of a secondary dimension. It cannot be seen, and no one can get into it without your knowledge and permission. You will find it easily. Reach your hand to the side and think of a place that is not there."

Haruki watched in amazement as Usagi lifted her hand and seemed to flick it to the side. When the hand came back she was holding the tiara she wore as Sailor Moon. Everyone gasped and watched in awe as she made the same motion and it disappeared again.

"Wow!" Minako breathed. "So we can keep things in it? How much? Where is it? How far does it go? Can we enter the pocket?"

"Slow down! Breathe!" Kunzite ordered, but he was hiding a grin.

"It is as big as it needs to be," Luna said. She frowned. "You cannot enter your own subspace pocket, but in our previous lives, I once hid in Princess Serenity's. Hmm. It's in a pocket dimension, and I don't really have the words in Japanese to explain. I know how to say it in Mau, but I don't think words were ever invented for it here, even during the Millennial Kingdom. It just was. Everyone knew about it, so no one thought to ask."

"Oh," Minako said, then grinned and started stuffing the bags of food into her own subspace pocket. "This makes things easier!"

Haruki couldn't help but grin as he watched the four travelers tuck away everything they thought they might need. Setsuna disappeared into the kitchen and returned with a box. He frowned and watched as she opened it and began setting things out.

"This is stuff I found in the attic when we moved from the old houses into the apartments," she explained. "It's a camping stove, some travel plates and silverware, and pots and pans that fold up. I think, since you have the space now, you should take them. You never know when you'll need them. There are compasses and a bunch of other things in here. There's even little tiny sheets of soap that are paper thin," she added, pulling out a little yellow container and showing them.

"Awesome!" Usagi said, and started stuffing everything back into the box before it disappeared into her subspace pocket. "This is incredible. Thanks Sets!"

"Hold on. We have a tent!" Fiore said, and tore out of the room. Haruki grinned. It looked like they would be much better prepared than they'd thought.

) * O * (

After breakfast, Fiore found himself pulled into the library by Usagi. She bit her lip and stared up at him, then rubbed the toe of her foot into the carpet. Something was making her nervous. He wasn't sure what it was, but he wanted to find out. Knowing her, the best thing was to wait until she was ready to speak, so he ushered her to a chair and sat beside her.

"I had a vision," she blurted. "We all did."

Fiore nodded. "Okay..." he let the word hang like a question and waited for her to continue.

"How much do you remember from before you came to Earth?" Usagi asked, blinking up at him.

"I remember Mother," he said, thinking about the Makai Tree. His memories were vague though, disjointed. "There were other children like me. But we didn't have a home. We were running from... something. And we stopped on a planet. There were people there, and they were mad that we were there and wanted to attack Mother and the children. So I ran out to meet them and they followed me. I screamed for Mother to take the other children and run."

Usagi put a hand over his to give him comfort. "What if I told you I think Mother, the tree, and two like you are coming to Earth?" she asked, her voice gentle.

He blinked. "They are?"

Usagi bit her lip. "They are. But I don't know when. I just know it's very important. They're going to help us somehow."

"But you saw them come?" he asked.

Usagi nodded and hugged him. "I wish they could sense your presence and would come quickly. I know even with all of us you feel alone. I wish they would hurry up so you have the rest of your family."

Fiore noticed a glow as she whispered her wish and remembered how she had once glowed when they were children. He had suddenly not been sick anymore. He didn't say anything though, simply hugged her back and prayed that Mother would come and bring the others, and that they could somehow fix everything together.

) * O * (

Everyone gathered around Mamoru, Usagi, Kunzite, and Minako. They didn't look like they were traveling. Each carried a much lighter pack than they would have without Luna's help.

Setsuna held back her tears as she hugged each of them. They were family and she would miss them terribly. It was certain they were going into danger and she wished with all her might that they weren't.

Motoki hugged Usagi hard and made her promise to behave. Then Naru grabbed her and didn't seem to want to let go. Even Umino looked upset to say goodbye.

"If you're ever scared, you two come here," Usagi said, holding Naru close. The girl nodded and held tight for several more minutes.

Then Setsuna took a turn, feeling tears running down her cheeks in spite of her promise to stay strong. She didn't want them to go. She moved from Usagi to Minako, holding her tight, then hugged her brothers for several minutes before stepping away.

"You'd better check in twice a day," she said, sniffling back tears.

"We will," Kunzite said. He wrapped her up in a tight hug and kissed the top of her head. "You keep these guys in line Sets," he said gently.

"I love you," she whispered, looking at each of them in turn, and again forced herself to back away.

As they watched, the four travelers joined hands. There was a brief flare of light, and then they were gone.

Setsuna couldn't help the sobs that welled up. She felt Haruki's arms close around her and gave him a small smile. "I'm okay," she lied.

:: No you aren't, :: Haruki said into her mind, :: but you will be. They'll come home soon, I'm sure of it. ::

:: I sure hope so. ::

"Naru, Umino," Motoki said, his voice low, "are you both coming with us to see my parents off and help me load the van?"

"We are. When did the van get back?"

"Early this morning. My friend left it in the driveway with a note that said there were no problems. I wanted him to stay with us, but when he heard my parents were leaving I guess he decided it wasn't a good idea." Motoki sighed.

Setsuna smiled at him. "I'm sure you'll see him soon," she said, then turned for the kitchen. She needed a soothing cup of tea.

The breakfast mess was still scattered around the table, but she didn't bother picking it up. Perhaps it was silly, but seeing the plates where the others normally sat made her feel better. She could put off the chore until they returned from seeing Motoki's parents to the airport.

"I finished cleaning Motoki's room," Fiore said quietly, slipping into the kitchen behind her. He grabbed a mug and poured in hot water and a tea packet. He was the only other one to enjoy tea with her. Setsuna merely nodded at him. So many things were changing.

"Did Kobayashi-san call back yet?"

"He did. We are all cleared to home school. Haruna-sensei will collect our work along with the others. We have to send it to her every Saturday."

"Okay," Setsuna nodded. "I think I need to go up and get changed. I can't load a van wearing a skirt." She hurried out of the kitchen, not really up to talking anymore.

) * O * (

Hotaru tore through the house, lifting books and stacks of papers frantically.

"What are you looking for?" Shingo asked, eying his friend askance.

"My omiyage gift" Hotaru answered with a wail of frustration. "I can't go to their house without it! I can't be that rude! Especially after they've been so kind to all of us."

Shingo sighed and stood up. It was important to her, so he knew he had to help. "How long before we leave?" he asked.

"I don't know!" Hotaru cried out, obviously still upset. "I just know they're leaving and this is our last chance to see them!" He heard her sniffle and had to do something. He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her up against him, giving her a huge hug. Hotaru was his best friend, and he couldn't bear to see her so upset.

"It's going to be okay Ru," he said, trying to calm her. "We'll go, you'll give her the gift, load everything up, maybe have something to eat, and then we will all come back here. Everything is fine. Now, where did you last see the gift?"

Hotaru stilled, let a heavy breath out through her mouth, and closed her eyes. "I saw it in the sitting room on the table," she said.

"Lets go look there then," he said, and took her hand to pull her into the sitting room. He was as upset as she was to see the Furuhata family leave Japan, but he was holding it together as best he could. Leading her into the sitting room, he tugged her towards the couches. "Which table?" he asked.

"That one." Hotaru pointed to a table, but there was no gift on top. He frowned and let go of her hand to kneel on the floor. Sure enough the present had somehow been knocked behind the table. He moved to lean over the arm of the couch and snagged it, turning quickly to hand it to Hotaru.

She smiled, leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Arigato," she said, then ran out of the room, leaving him sitting on the edge of the couch, stunned into stillness.

"Well that was different," he muttered.

) * O * (

Motoki struggled with one of the suitcases, hardly able to lift it. Making his way to his parent's car, he hauled it into the trunk and shoved it to the side. There were several others already packed into the small space, and more in the back seat along with several boxes they were brining to the postal center before they went to the airport. Most of their belongings would be sold, along with the house he'd grown up in. He turned and stared at the two houses to the left of his own. Those homes had once rung with the laughter of his friends, before their parents had passed.

"Everything changes," Motoki muttered.

Fiore came up behind him with the last suitcase and slid it into the trunk. He sighed with relief. "I didn't think there would be enough room," he said quietly. Then he turned to Motoki and put a hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Motoki nodded, then shook his head. "I am. I have all of you. But it will be hard to say goodbye. Not to see my sister everyday, or listen to my mother sing off-key, or my father say crazy things." He sighed. "I'm going to miss them."

"I can imagine," Fiore said. "But they will be safe, and these days, you can't ask for much more than that."

Motoki nodded and gave his friend a smile. He missed Mamoru, but Fiore was a good guy, and he knew they would probably bond a bit more since their best friends were both gone.

"Come on," he said finally. "We still have to pack my van."

"We'll get started on that," Haruki said, hurrying over to them. "You go spend some time with Unazuki. She doesn't want to come out of her room."

Motoki sighed. His little sister had never been the same after she was attacked by that group of boys. They'd beaten her to within an inch of her life, and he was sure they were about to do more. Thankfully he, Mamoru, Kunzite, and Fiore has been on their way home from school and had seen what was happening and saved her. Una had spent two weeks in the hospital before coming home. She hadn't left the house since.

"We're all going to the airport with you," Haruki added. "Let her know we won't leave her alone for a second until they get on the plane."

Motoki nodded and swallowed heavily. His friends were incredible people and he was thankful to have them. Knowing their secret was a huge deal, and he would protect it with his life. He could admit he was glad they would be there to protect his family until they reached the plane. Tokyo wasn't the same place it had once been. The city was changing.

He made his way into the house and climbed the stairs to his sister's bedroom. Not bothering to knock, he opened the door slightly and poked his head inside. "Una. It's just me. I'm coming in okay?"

"Kay," Unazuki's voice was scratchy, which meant she'd been crying again.

"Hey little sis," he said, plopping down on the bare mattress next to her. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close for a hug. "You okay?"

She shook her head. "Do I really have to go outside?" she asked, looking up at him. Her eyes were huge and her face had lost most of it's color. It was obvious she was terrified. He wished, for the thousandth time, that he could go back and erase that day from ever happening. Unfortunately he couldn't, so he could only help her survive, one day at a time.

"I'm sorry Una. You do have to go out. But all of us are going to be with you. Fiore and Haruki, Sets, Shingo and Hotaru. Me and Mom and Dad. Even Naru and Umino. You'll see. No one will get close to you. You'll get on the plane and fly over the ocean. Then you'll be in America, where it's safe."

"But there's crime there too," she said in a small voice.

Motoki frowned. "That's true. But mom and dad chose a little town for you to live in. It's in a state called Maine and you'll be near the ocean. They sent pictures. You're room is huge and even has a little ladder inside where you can climb up into a tower room and if you want you can walk on this thing called a widows walk and stare out at the ocean. It's a safe place Una. I promise."

"Will I ever see you again?" Unazuki asked, looking up with her huge blue eyes.

"You will. I'll come visit you for Christmas and New Year's and on your birthday."

"Okay." She looked around, as though to make sure no one could hear her, and her voice dropped low. "Will you please hold my hand?" she asked.

"I will. And if for any reason I have to let go, Fiore or one of the others will hold onto you, okay?"

"Okay." She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder, closing her eyes.

Motoki wanted to scream. Seeing what his baby sister had been reduced to killed him and filled him with rage. She had been bright and outgoing before the attack. Now she was meek and afraid of her own shadow. He wanted to see her smiling and happy again, running outside and doing things normal girls did.

There was a soft knock on the door and Hotaru poked her head inside. She was only a few years younger than Unazuki, but had much more confidence. She peeked around the door and smiled at them.

"It's time."

* * *

 **Shimoda, Japan**

* * *

Usagi sighed in relief when their return to the park proved uneventful. No one was in the little clearing when they arrived, and she was thankful for that. The last thing they needed was to be spotted and have someone tell people where they were.

"I called and rented us a hotel room," Kunzite said, wrapping his arm around Minako's waist. "Come on, lets go take a break before we get on with this crazy adventure."

Usagi snorted. It was a crazy adventure. And they still weren't entirely certain where it would take them, or how they would manage. She felt Mamoru slip his hand around her own waist, causing her heartrate to sky rocket.

She had a little secret that had nothing to do with the train. She just wasn't sure what to do about it. She breathed in the smell of Mamoru, enjoying the mixed scents of roses, coffee, chocolate, and something that was uniquely him. He made her feel safe, and happy. And she was completely head over heels in love with him. She wondered if he could somehow tell, but decided he wouldn't be so easy and affectionate with her if he knew. He'd probably run screaming.

The walk to the hotel was short and uneventful. They passed several people selling food or other items, but Kunzite said he would rather take a nap and order something after lunch. She sighed. At least she had a few boxes of pocky and the snacks Minako had packed. That would see her through until then.

"You doing okay?" Mamoru asked, practically in her ear. His breath fanned out over her neck and made her shiver.

"I'm alright," she squeaked and wanted to hit herself for showing how affected she was. She didn't want to lose her friendship with him, which was why she planned to never let him know she loved him as far more than a friend.

"I could use a nap," he said after a moment.

Usagi could only nod. Her mind conjured images of other things they could do in bed and she bit her lip hard to break free of the images. That was the last thing she needed to be thinking about. Instead, she focused on her dreams, or visions, and how they might lead them to the Crystals. She was certain they were the ones who used fire.

Once they were inside the hotel room, Usagi frowned. There were two beds, not four. She grinned at the thought of the boys sleeping double, possibly kicking each other in their sleep. Maybe she could get a video and send it to Shingo and the others. It would be funny. Kunzite locked the latch and went to the closer bed, pulling Minako with him. He sat on the edge, kicked off his shoes, and lay down over the covers, pulling Minako to lay down beside him.

Her sister gave her a frantic look, but Usagi shook her head. She had no idea what was going on. Then Mamoru was sitting her down and taking her shoes off. He lay on the bed and picked her up, rolling both of them onto their sides before throwing an arm across her waist. She sighed and pulled her packet and a pen out of her bag and set them on the nightstand, then closed her eyes and let herself drift.

) * O * (

Kunzite grinned at Mamoru. The first stage of the plan was going well. His brother smiled back and closed his eyes.

Minako was still a bit stiff in Kunzite's arms, but bit by bit she relaxed. He ran a hand up and down her arm and focused on soothing her to sleep. She needed a peaceful rest without nightmares. He and Mamoru had discussed it at length. Their presence seemed to help the girls, and since each of them was in love with one of them, it only made sense to get them accustomed to having them there.

He finally closed his own eyes and rested his head close to Minako's hair. She always smelled of some sort of flower. He adored it, and her. Feeling her safe in his arms let him drift to sleep.

He'd only been out for a few minutes when Minako started muttering. For the first time he caught some of her words as she dreamed, and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end.

"Don't do it. Please don't do it. Don't hurt her..." her voice trailed off and he wondered exactly what had happened. Who had been hurt, and what had she seen on that horrible day when everything changed for her and Usagi? His mind conjured the worst sort of images, but he didn't want to think about them. Instead he spoke in a soft voice.

"I'm here Mina. You're safe. No one is going to hurt you, or Usagi. It's okay. You're alright."

Minako let out a soft sigh and turned in his arms so that she was facing him, her nose buried in his chest. He kissed the top of her head and ran his hand up and down her back. She gave a small half-smile in her sleep and settled into silence.

Kunzite stared at the ceiling, wondering what he could do to help her. If she wouldn't talk to him, she had to speak to someone.

) * O * (

 _Usagi was staring up at a mountain with steam rising from the peak. A wreath of snow encircled the top of the mountain, but where the steam rose, the slopes were dry and brown. Puffs of thick white vapor escaped from the pinnacle in little waves._

 _Feeling pulled, Usagi began to climb the slope. Her muscles didn't ache and each step took her further than she thought possible. In moments she was at the top, looking over the lake of fire she had seen in her vision. The Crystals were both there, sitting on their pedestals._

 _Looking carefully over the edge, she could see a small area that didn't look dangerous to climb down, and she made her way towards it, taking the path that switch backed around a large stone outcropping. The crater was much deeper than she had imagined, and though the path was clear, it took much longer to climb down than it had to scale the entire mountain only moments before._

 _Finally, she reached the green Crystal with the red Crystal attached in the center. Carefully she reached her hand out to pick the stone up. Her hand passed through. She looked up and down the pedestal. Perhaps there was some instruction. Engraved at the bottom was a single word. Cerbero._

 _She didn't understand the word. It wasn't written in Japanese, or in English. Usagi rolled her eyes. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. She peered across the small lake of lava. She could see a path leading around one side, but it was treacherous. She could climb back to the top, but she didn't see a path down on that side. It was sheer._

 _Carefully she made her way along the treacherous path, terrified she would lose her balance and fall into the lake of fire. For several steps she held her breath, her mind racing with panic, until the trail widened and she could walk easily again. She made her way to the second pedestal. Again, she reached for the Crystal, and again, her hand passed through without touching._

 _Remembering the word on the first one, she looked at the bottom. Cherufe. She made her way back to the other side, a bit more sure than before, and climbed the path to the top of the crater. Looking carefully at the landscape she tried to mark the location in her mind. Every time she focused on a landmark the entire world seemed to blur. She couldn't make any of the details clear in her mind._

 _She stepped down and made her way from the peak. Looking back she noted the snow. She knew she remembered them, but not how. Her mind conjured a picture of a word on a pedestal. Cherufe. It didn't make any sense to her. She had to focus. She had to figure out where she was._

 _She turned and looked at the peak again. 'Snow and smoke,' she reminded herself. 'I already knew that somehow. If I know snow and smoke. Then I should remember the name on the pedestal. Cherufe. Cherufe. Cherufe. I really hope I remember how to spell it.'_

Usagi sat up and snatched at the packet of papers she was now keeping next to her at all times. On the top were the words smoke and snow. Now, next to them she wrote the word. **Cherufe?**

Mamoru sat up beside her and looked at what she had written. "Did you find that in the dream?" he asked, a yawn creeping out.

Usagi nodded. "It was one of the words on the pedestal things," she explained. "There is a different word on the other one, but I can't remember what it is."

They both scooted up so they were leaning against the headboard. Mamoru put an arm around her, and pulled her close. "You okay?" he asked after a minute. "I know it was hard to leave again, and you seemed so upset about not getting to say goodbye to Motoki's parents."

"I am upset," Usagi admitted, "but I refuse to put them, or the others, in any more danger."

"You know none of this was your fault right?" Mamoru asked, his voice soft.

"I guess so," Usagi said, though she did blame herself. She didn't understand why people were so angry, but it was because of her and Minako that people were rioting.

"Lets look up the word," Mamoru said, changing the subject.

Usagi tugged her laptop out of the bag while he set up the portable hot spot. In a few minutes they were both staring at the screen as she typed in the search.

A Cherufe.

There were dozens of hits on the word and she opened one of the more popular sites for information. There were lists of hundreds of mythical creatures. Usagi gulped as she realized something terrifying was probably protecting the Crystal. Her fear only increased when she read the entry.

 _The Cherufe is a mythical creature that inhabits Chilean volcanoes. The beast is humanoid, said to be evil, and is formed from magma and rock. People have long thought them to be the source of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes in the region. It is claimed they are the source of ardent stones (meteorites and lava rocks) that cause damage throughout the area._

 _In order to sate the creature and prevent an eruption, the people of the area, in ancient times, were said to have thrown a sacrificial victim to the creature. It's preferred victims were virginal girls. It was said that if the virgin was accepted, an eruption would stop, but if not the eruption would continue. The creatures are said to have a taste for human flesh and are unable to be calmed without it._

Usagi blinked. The people had sacrificed virgin girls to those creatures. She shuddered at the thought.

"Human sacrifice?" she asked, looking over at Mamoru. He had a strange look on his face.

"That's sick," he said. "I think they're talking about throwing little girls into volcanoes," he explained.

"That's just wrong. Do you think there actually is a creature?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, but we should probably find out it's weaknesses, just in case."

They searched for a long time but were unable to find a method to kill a Cherufe. With a heavy sigh, Usagi closed her computer and stared across the room at the painting of flowers on the wall. She didn't know what to do. Somehow they had to find a way to save the others. They couldn't just give up. But accomplishing the task might be more than they'd ever imagined.

"What do you think?" Mamoru asked after several long minutes of silence. He had wrapped his arms around her again, and she snuggled in closer, seeking comfort.

"I don't really think anything yet," she said. "All I know is that we have to save those kids. It could have been us if it wasn't for the green-haired woman."

) * O * (

Mamoru was ready to tear his hair out. Kunzite had gone out for food while the girls struggled to find any more information on the mysterious creature called a Cherufe. He'd had several dreams of his own that he wasn't sure what to do about.

He was almost certain that whatever those creatures were that were guarding the stones, they weren't the only line of defense. For the past several days he had been dreaming about dragons. Massive creatures with wings bigger than an airplane. The creatures in his dreams breathed fire and circled around the cone of the volcano, smoke coming from their snouts as they watched a group climbing up the side of the mountain.

"Usa, Mina," he called out, sorting through the packet that had been made for him, "what do you know about dragons."

Minako gave an excited squeal and turned to look at him. "I love dragons," she said. "There are dragon myths on just about every continent around the world. The Asian dragon varies greatly from the European dragon. And the Americas have changed the European dragon a bit over time too. There are several types of dragons as well. Some have long thin bodies with four legs and are a bit like serpents, while others are big and broad chested and have four legs, while others only have two legs and the other appendages are attached to their wings."

When she paused for breath Mamoru held up his hand. "The ones I'm thinking of are dark with hints of red. They have four legs, breathe fire, and their wings are gigantic."

"Hmm. Definitely not Asian then. You could do an internet search," she suggested.

Mamoru grimaced, but opened his new laptop. He wished he were still cuddling with Usagi and looking over her shoulder. He had enjoyed that immensely. Still, he wanted to know what he had been seeing.

By the time Kunzite returned with lunch, he was focused on the types of dragons and the elements they were associated with. He ate with one hand and typed with the other, his mind zeroing in on what he'd seen in his dreams.

* * *

 **Tokyo, Japan**

* * *

Hotaru followed the others into Narita International Airport. The words were written in Kanji, and then in English just below them. She smiled. It was a great way to remind herself of all the English words she had learned. There were signs everywhere, and so many people she could hardly hear herself thing the moment they entered.

The airport was crowded, for sure, but it was huge. The space was wide open, and there were windows and shops and all sorts of things surrounding her. She could see people lined up at counters, probably to buy tickets, and other places where people were delivering their luggage.

Everything was so busy, Hotaru wasn't sure where to look, or where they were going. She held onto the cart that had been stacked with the suitcases the Furuhata's were taking with them, her knuckles turning white against the metal as Haruki and Setsuna pushed it through the crowd.

Etsuko had Unazuki's hand, and Motoki was holding her other one. Una didn't look very happy, and Hotaru could guess she was terrified. Letting go of the cart, she made her way to Shingo, grabbed his hand, and went to walk just behind the girl, letting her know they were there and wouldn't let anyone get close.

Motoki looked sad, making Hotaru want to hug him and promise everything would be okay.

Several people were running through the airport and refused to stop or go around their group, instead charging right toward Unazuki. Her terror was palpable and Hotaru wanted to rush in and save her, but Fiore was there before she could blink. He snatched Una into his arms, tucking her face into his neck, and murmured quietly to her as he carried her out of harms way.

"Everything is okay little one," he said as she clung to him. "You're safe. I've got you. Lets get you to the plane, hmm?"

The rest of them followed behind while Fiore carried her as though she weighed no more than a pea. Hotaru could almost see his eyes glowing and thought perhaps he was doing something more to keep her calm.

It took nearly an hour to make their way through the airport. Fiore still hadn't put Unazuki down, but stayed off to the side with her, making sure no one came close. At fourteen she wasn't tiny anymore, but Fiore didn't seem to notice. He kept murmuring to her, reminding her that she was safe.

They huddled all together near the terminal saying their goodbyes and wishing each other safety and luck. Hugs were given, tears were shed, and reminders to behave flowed from Etsuko to each of them.

Fiore moved close to Motoki's dad, Katsuo and said something, and when the man nodded, he touched Unazuki on the forehead. He handed her over to her father, and Hotaru was surprised to realize Una had fallen asleep.

Hotaru wanted to scream as she watched them walk away. She could see tears on Motoki's face. Reaching out, she took his hand and they all walked slowly away, towards the car and home.

) * O * (

"Hey," Naru said, looking over at Umino. "I need to go and get my school things."

"Why?" Umino asked. "The school burned down, remember?"

Naru huffed at him. "Of course I remember. We're going to be doing classes at the high school three times a week though, so I thought it would be best to make sure I had everything."

"How did I not know this?" Umino asked, looking panicked. "I always find out first!" he practically wailed.

Laughing, Naru patted his cheek. "There there," she said, grinning at him. "I'm sure you'll be first to know everything once we're back in school. I only know because Setsuna told me that was the plan the school board came up with."

"Oh."

Umino's eyes almost seemed as though they were swirling behind his glasses. He looked adorable confused. She pulled him closer and kissed him, making him blush, then giggled, and grabbed his hand, tugging him toward the store.

Once they made it inside, Naru hurried up to the apartment to gather her books and a couple more changes of clothing. She was happy to stay with Umino's family. His mother adored her and was already planning their wedding, which made Naru gulp, but she tried not to make a big deal out of it. She was in love with him after all.

As they were coming down the stairs Naru noticed something that frightened her. She saw what looked like, but couldn't possibly be, her mother standing behind the jewelry counter. The truth was abundantly clear the moment she looked. Her mother's eyes didn't glow. Ever.

Which meant, that whoever it was standing there, it was not her mother. Her mother might be locked up, or hurt, or possibly even dead. Without thinking she rushed at the creature who had taken her mother's place.

"What have you done with her?" she screamed. "Where is my mother?"

Several patrons who were looking into the glass cases turned, startled, and stared at her and the woman who was now changing right in front of her eyes. It was some sort of creature, and before Naru could back away or run, it caught her hard around the neck. She tried to scream, but couldn't get enough air. Umino stared at her in shock, then reached out and tried to pull the monster's arm away from her neck.

Naru kicked as hard as she could, but it did no good. Black spots started forming in her vision. She stared at Umino, praying that somehow he could rescue her from the nightmare she was now trapped inside. It was not her mother that was holding tightly to her neck. Her mother didn't have sharp teeth, long claws, or glowing eyes.

The world began to fade as she struggled for a breath of oxygen.

) * O * (

The computer began to alarm in the office. Fiore raced in and checked for a location. OSA-P Jewelry Store. Naru! He called to the others and transformed. Panic tried to seize him, but he pushed it back. He couldn't let her down.

Within a minute they were gathered in the meeting room, holding hands as Haruki, who was Sun Knight, let the teleport to a location they all knew well. Pressure hit them and darkness covered them for no longer than the blink of an eye before they heard screams.

Women were hurriedly pushing their way out of the store when they arrived, but the only thing he could focus on was Naru, whose face was turning purple, and Umino who was struggling with all his might to free her.

"Saturn, Blue, make sure no one else comes in and watch our backs," he heard Sun Knight say.

Fiore moved forward, pulling a form of energy that came from all the plants in the area and expelling it in a rush over Naru's shoulder and right into the face of the creature holding her.

"Morga!" the creature shouted, hissing at him as she dropped the girl and tried to launch herself over the counter.

He hardly noticed Umino dragging Naru out of the way as he threw himself at the Youma, knocking her back and holding her down. "Hurry," he called to Pluto and Sun and let the energy build up again in his hands, forcing it into the creature.

"Dead Scream," Pluto said, and he moved out of the way to let the attack hit her straight on. The monster screamed again and tried to roll away but Sun Knight threw his attack seconds later.

"Solar Flare!" The bright attack illuminated the entire shop and as it hit Fiore launched one last burst of pure energy at the Youma, causing it to explode into dust which floated in the air for several seconds before falling gently to the floor.

"Naru!" Umino was shouting, shaking her.

Fiore turned to look. She still looked blue and it was obvious she wasn't breathing. He moved towards her but Sun Knight was faster. He picked up the girl and glowed bright orange for a long moment as he sent healing energy into her.

Naru gasped and opened her eyes.

Fiore let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. If she'd died it would have destroyed not just Umino, but Usagi and Minako as well. She'd been their best friend since they'd started school. He sighed and moved to run his hand gently over her head.

"It wasn't my mom," she whispered.

"What wasn't?" Pluto asked.

"That thing. It looked like her but-" she was cut off by Saturn who was watching the door.

"Cops. We have to go!" she said, sounding frantic.

"Not yet," Fiore said. He could sense a presence below them. "We have to find her mother, and whoever is hiding her."

He raced toward the hallway and made his way down a set of rickety steps into the basement. The store wasn't on a large enough hill to prevent water from seeping into the place and there were several puddles. He stepped through them as he made his way through the darkened room.

There was a sound from a shadowed corner and he looked over to see the couple they'd faced a few days before stepping into a portal to escape. They were gone before he could even think of attacking them. Instead he moved to where there was a closed door. He could sense Naru's mother.

Once the door was opened he saw the sleeping woman. She'd been completely drained of energy. He sighed, and rested a hand on her forehead pulling good energy from the local parks and into himself before gently filtering it into Osaka-san. He didn't want her to be afraid so he started talking to her, telling her she was safe and that the monster was gone before she opened her eyes.

Naru rushed past him as soon as she was awake and threw her arms around her mother. Umino wasn't far behind her.

"If anyone asks, you don't know us. We appeared and left without saying a word to you," Fiore said. Naru and Umino nodded and he made his way out to the main room of the basement where the others waited. They clasped hands and disappeared from sight, reappearing in the meeting room.

* * *

 **D Point - The Arctic Circle - Dark Kingdom (Negaverse)**

* * *

Makoto poked her head around the corner and looked into the room with the coffins. No Youma were present so she tiptoed her way over. She had missed Ami and Zoicite and wanted to make sure they were doing alright. All the others were gone except for Nephrite, and he was busy working on his star charts.

Peeking in, she saw that Ami and Zoicite were placed in the same chamber and sighed with relief. It was always easier and far less painful when two were in a coffin together. The dark energy didn't hit as strongly. She sighed, wondering what they had done to earn themselves another treatment.

Walking back out of the room, she wondered about where Michiru and Haruka had gone. She knew Rei and Jadeite were on a mission to gather energy, corrupt the people of Tokyo, and bring back any information that would help the queen discover where the other children had gone. She wished they'd all hurry up and come back though. She was bored and rather lonely.

She had just made it to the hall outside the throne room when there was a commotion. She peered into the doorway and saw Jed and Rei on their hands and knees in front of the throne.

"You failed!" screamed the queen.

"Morga..." Rei was cut off when the queen threw energy at her, knocking her onto her side.

"I don't want to hear your excuses." Queen Beryl stood, her staff clinking on the stone as she walked toward the pair huddled before her. "You were meant to keep a low profile and gather energy continuously."

"My Queen," Jadeite said, his voice almost smarmy in his haste to appease their ruler. "The fault is ours, but we have a plan to rectify the situation. We've already set up another Youma who will begin stealing energy at the midnight hour. It is in ready my Queen. We knew the Youma was not working out and planned ahead."

Queen Beryl walked back to her throne. "Tell me."

Jadeite stared at the floor as he spoke. "Last night we went to a local radio station and set up a Youma. We are going to run a program about love letters to gather pure love energy. It is a strong form of energy my Queen. It was Rei's idea to send out brooches that would quickly drain the wearer of energy and leave them sleeping as they continue to draw not only from the wearer, but anyone around them. It will continue to corrupt the minds of the people."

"And your other task?"

"We would like Ami and Zoicite to create a specialized Youma to track the prince and princess my Queen," Rei said. "It is our plan to send it out. It would not attack them. It would only discover their identity and report back."

"Very well. You will be punished and then sent out." The Queen sat back on her throne and tapped the staff three times. Several of her personal Youma came running. "These two are to be tortured for three hours for their failure," the queen said, "but I want them able to work the moment you've finished with them," she added.

"Hie." The Youma all bowed to her, then grabbed Rei and Jadeite and dragged them away into another corridor.

Makoto shivered, then hurried away to find Nephrite and tell him everything that had happened.


	8. Chapter 7

**Unknown Force:  
Quest for the Crystals**  
 _Chapter Seven_

* * *

 **Tokyo, Japan**

* * *

"New Rule," Motoki said, looking down at Naru and Umino who were both anxiously watching the strange actions of the boys. "If you've never heard of it before, or it's new, or it's free... don't go near it. In fact," he added, looking back over at the boys who were acting so strangely, "I think maybe we should ask Fiore or one of the others to check it out before we do anything."

Umino looked worried. "That might work for us," he said, his voice quiet, "but how can I protect Naru from other people who get involved. Those boys are all... wrong."

Motoki sighed. Umino had a point. "I don't know." Admitting that was hard. He looked around the courtyard of the high school. He'd come to pick them up as a favor to Osaka-san, who was still recovering from her ordeal. She'd had a massive panic attack and called in a frantic state, begging him to get Naru and Umino.

Shaking his head he gave each of them a hand and pulled them up from the grass. He still had to sign them out of school for the day. Naru was shaking like a leaf. One of those boys had tried to kiss her. Poor Umino had rammed him like a rhino, pushing him away and then the pair had run and hidden behind the bushes. Motoki was starting to think it wasn't safe for them to come back.

Pulling out his cell phone as they walked back toward the office, he dialed the jewelry store. When Naru's mother picked up the phone, her voice was shaking. "I've got them Osaka-san," he said, keeping his voice soothing. "I'm checking them out now. But I think it might be best if they homeschool with me and the others."

"What happened?" she asked, her voice rising with anxiety.

"Nothing happened," he lied, raising his eyebrows at the younger teens so they knew to keep silent about the boys. "But I think it's too dangerous for them to come here, even if it's only three days a week.

"Who do I need to call?"

"No one," Motoki promised. "I'm here now, so I can talk to Haruna-sensei. She signed me up last night."

"Okay. So they'll just go to your house for school then?" Osaka-san asked in a shaky tone.

"They will. And I think I can come pick them up. Or one of the others can," he added. She'd overheard enough to figure out their secret when they'd rescued her the day before.

) * O * (

"What we need is a safe place to train," Haruki said. "There is far too much for us to learn and perfect. We can't just sit around the basement talking about our attacks. We need a place where no one will see us use our attacks and where we have space to spread out."

"Why can't we just do them on the roof?" Shingo asked.

"Because they can be bright and rather obvious. We would draw not only the Youma but the riots." Setsuna answered gently.

"Oh." Shingo shook his head. "I didn't think about that," he added sheepishly.

"I might know a place," Fiore announced and Haruki looked over at him expectantly. Fiore was the best bet they had for finding a secluded spot. "Before you all learned you had powers, I would patrol alone. Sometimes I just needed a break from it all. Well, there's this old Jinja, actually it was the place little Rei was taken from. It's been abandoned and the city wants to tear it down. Everything has overgrown and gone right up to the edges of the shrine. But behind it there is a secton of woods that opens out into a large clearing. Woods surround it on all sides. I think its part of the reason the city wants the land so bad. If they can bulldoze it they would have space to add a small housing development or several towers."

"How often have you been there?" Hotaru asked. "It sounds like a good refuge."

"A lot. I like nature and this city doesn't have enough of it." Fiore shook his head sadly.

"It sucks they want to tear the place down." Shingo said.

Haruki had his own thoughts about it. Technically, the property wasn't owned by the city. According to their lawyer, the land still belonged to Rei and was in a living trust. He didn't understand the ins and outs of it, but he hoped they could rescue her before it was torn down. He didn't want her to finally come home only to find it had been destoyed and condominiums put up in its place. He wondered if there was any way to fight it.

) * O * (

Something, or someone, was after Kobayashi Akio. He was worried about leading it, or them, to the children, but he knew if he didn't get help soon he would die, and then the children would all become wards of the state. They would probably be put into a group home, and they might even be separated. He really didn't want to get any of them involved, but he felt as though he had no choice. He'd been in hiding for several days, working from a brand new cell phone and lap top. Now however, he was out of time.

Pressing the teal tree on his communicator, he called Fiore. "I need help," he said, the moment the boy answered. "Can you find me?"

Fiore closed his eyes for several long minutes. To Akio it felt like an eternity. He knew Fiore could sense the life forces all around him however, so he waited. He wasn't far from them.

"I think I've got you," Fiore said. The communicator went dead and Akio was about to pray for him to arrive quickly when the boy appeared in front of him. "Get your things," he said, looking around. "Someone is close."

"Two, I think," Akio told him. He grabbed his bags and gave his hand to Fiore. A moment later he was in the dining room of the house the kids had purchased. He breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

"What's going on?" Setsuna asked, rushing over to grab his bags.

He settled into one of the chairs and Shingo put a large plate of food in front of him. He dug in, eating rapidly. He hadn't had anything all that day or the night before. He'd been hiding as best he could, but whatever was after him had apparently been able to follow his scent.

"Something, or someone, is after him," Fiore answered. "I sensed a single thing closing in, but there were two others close by."

"I think whatever it is, it could track my scent," Akio explained, having swallowed a large bite of rice. "I haven't been able to stay still more than an hour or two at a time since I got off the phone with Usagi the other day."

"But you've checked in with us a dozen times," Setsuna scolded. "You knew we had powers, so why didn't you ask for help?"

Akio sighed. "I'm your guardian, and your lawyer. I'm supposed to protect you," he said, feeling guilty.

"Do you have powers we aren't aware of?" Setsuna asked.

He shook his head. He could only sense certain things, and he had some of his memories. "I'm a bit of an empath, but that's it," he explained. "That's how I've been keeping ahead of them. I think its a Youma and possibly two of the kids. But from what I can gather, I'm supposed to be killed, after I've been tortured to force me to let them know who and where you are."

"I can set up a sort of protection," Fiore said quietly. "I can mask his scent with a few well placed flowers. As long as he doesn't leave the house in the normal way, no one should be able to track him here."

"That's a plan then. Kobayashi-san will stay here with us." Setsuna put a cup of tea in front of him. "Drink up," she ordered in her motherly way.

He picked up the cup and sipped at the hot tea, grateful the young ones were able to help. He still had a mission to complete, and until at least one of them was twenty, he couldn't let himself be caught and killed.

) * O * (

Haruna pinned her hair on top of her head and turned to look at the tub. She'd made the water hot, hoping to soothe her aching muscles. The day had been awful. First thing that morning one of her students had shoved her into the lockers, knocking her to the ground. Then several of them had harassed her all through one of their classes. If it wasn't hard enough getting used to a new school and the students behaving badly, it was worse because most of the other staff members were angry with her for defending Usagi and Minako.

She sighed as she stepped into the hot water and settled back to relax. Life in Tokyo hadn't been easy, and the past two years seemed like a nightmare. Sometimes she wished she had never left her family home in Kyoto. She'd wanted to strike out on her own, have some adventure, and live a little before she settled down. Her mother wanted her to have a husband and two kids and live in a big house. Part of her wanted that too, but mostly she wanted to just live.

And she wasn't sure that would be possible if things kept going the way they were. Her mind wandered back to what she had seen. She'd been watching out for Minako and Usagi when they'd left the school with the two abused cats. She'd seen the boys surround them and had rushed out to help the girls escape. And she'd seen them change, becoming something else, powerful super heroes.

She shook her head. Those girls needed to be careful. They couldn't let anyone see who they were. They had to remain out of town for now. Hidden. Protected. Safe. She sighed again and turned on the radio. A new radio program had begun the night before and she had enjoyed listening to the hosts read love letters on the air. Some of them had been beautiful.

A thought occurred to her. She could send in a love letter of her own. She did have someone she cared dearly about after all. As she sat back in the water and listened, she thought about what she might say when she sent her own letter.

* * *

 **Kirishima, Japan**

* * *

As soon as the car pulled over Usagi climbed out and leaned over, hands on her knees. She was feeling rather sick, and was unsure how much more she could take of the winding roads. She looked up at the peak soaring over their heads. It was a long way up.

It had been a long day, most of it on the road. They'd eaten, gotten the rental car, and had driven mostly nonstop, only pausing to refuel the car and use the restroom. She hadn't wanted to eat on the road. Instead she had little lemon candies that soothed her stomach.

She sighed as Mamoru pulled her up against his side.

"You okay?" he asked, rubbing her back.

Not trusting herself to speak without losing everything she'd eaten that morning, Usagi only nodded. She was as alright as she was going to get. Her eyes lit on the hotel. They'd rented a cabin in the far back corner so they could have privacy coming and going. It was surrounded by a little stand of woods and opened with a view of the mountain.

Making her way towards the structure, she kept her pace slow. Thankfully, with everything stowed in the miraculous subspace pockets, there was nothing to unload from the rental car. She couldn't have been more grateful. She wasn't up to doing anything.

"This is why I always run to school," she muttered.

Mamoru chuckled so she turned and glared at him. She held out a hand for the key and unlocked the door, hurriedly stepping inside. It was a wide open space with two large futons and a kitchen area and dining table that was low to the ground and surrounded by pillows. Only the bathroom was separated from the rest of the space, giving it an open feeling. They'd rented for three nights, but she hoped to be done before that.

"How long to you think it will take once we reach the end of the road?" Minako asked.

"Not sure," Kunzite said, closing the door behind him. "I grabbed some maps of the mountain trails when we checked in though, so we can figure it out before we leave."

"When are we leaving?" she asked sitting down at one of the tables.

Usagi grinned. "Early. I want to be out of here and driving up the mountain before the sun comes up." She sat next to her sister and leaned her head on Mina's shoulder. "It will be nice to do some walking for once," she added.

Mamoru put two large bags of takeout food onto the table and Usagi sat up and started dividing it out into plates and bowls. She grinned when he handed her a spoon, thankful he understood her hatred of anything that slowed down the eating process. Chop sticks were all well and fine when there was a need, but she'd rather all her food land inside her mouth and not on whatever shirt she was wearing.

Kunzite set the maps on the table and Usagi picked on up, scanning the trails. "This one looks the most promising," she said. "It goes up to a place most visitors don't want to visit. It would give us privacy should we have to henshin, and it might lead to a hidden place that most people wouldn't find."

"Did you dream at all when we were driving here?" Mamoru asked.

"None of the dreams about the volcano," she answered, hedging around the nightmares she'd had. She was sure he knew, but she didn't feel prepared to talk about them. Not now. Maybe when she had some time to talk it over with Mina in privacy. She was getting more and more used to leaning on Mamoru for support though, and if he and Kunzite both promised never to speak a word, Usagi and Minako planned to tell them the secret.

Not tonight though. Tonight Usagi wanted to eat, wash her hair, and curl up to sleep.

) * O * (

Mamoru sighed in frustration when Usagi slipped into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. It seemed she was no close to opening up to him. He went to the door and stepped outside, resting his elbows on the railing of the balcony as he stared up at the mountain that seemed so close.

It really was a beautiful place. He couldn't imagine the horrible things they'd seen in visions happening there, but then again, once Tokyo had been filled with happy people that showed respect to everyone. It was sad watching the city he called home fall into chaos.

It was much worse to be completely in love with a girl who didn't trust him however.

The door snicked open behind him and he turned to see Minako step out. She didn't meet his eyes as she walked over to lean against the railing. She stared up at the mountain quietly for a long time. Mamoru was about to go back inside when she spoke, startling him.

"Usagi and I talked about it," she said, her voice so quiet he had to strain to hear her. "We're going to tell you. We are. Its just been a rough couple of days. Don't give up on her. Please?"

Mamoru sighed again, running his fingers through his hair. "I don't plan on it," he said, keeping his voice low. "But she needs to know she can trust me."

Minako shook her head. "It isn't about you. It never has been. She would have told you before, but we were sworn to secrecy. And honestly, keeping it locked up for so long, never being able to get help for it... It gets worse and worse inside your head until it's this huge thing that you can't even think about without wanting to dig a hole and hide. Maybe it isn't even as bad as we remember it." She sighed and finally turned to look him in the eyes.

Absolute devastation. That's what he saw in her azure gaze. A broken heart and the loss of trust and hope.

"Mamoru, what we... experienced... it wasn't an easy thing. And both of us are struggling to talk about it. Just promise me... you wont look at her differently."

Mamoru was terrified. He didn't know if that was a promise he could keep. He wanted to, but what if...

"You're thinking too hard." Minako shook her head again. "Seriously, it's bad, but we got through it. We survived. That's what counts, isn't it?"

He nodded. There wasn't anything else he could say. Finally, he croaked out a promise. "I won't look at her differently," he said.

) * O * (

Minako rushed back inside and went into the bathroom. Usagi was getting dressed and she hurried past her sister and undressed before turning on the water. "I think we need to go back to the braids tomorrow," she said. "I don't want our hair getting stuck in branches and whatnot."

"You're right," Usagi sighed. She sat down on a little stool and ran the brush through her hair, staring out the window. "Do you think this is the place?" she asked.

"I don't know. Does the mountain look familiar?"

Usagi sighed and shook her head. "I can't remember the mountain from my vision," she explained.

Minako nodded and stayed quiet as she washed her hair. She felt a bit guilty for talking to Mamoru behind Usagi's back, but she had seen his frustration and pain and hadn't been able to stop herself. She couldn't bear it if he gave up on Usagi. They'd come so far and were so very close.

It was no secret they both loved each other.

Honestly, Minako was beginning to realize that her love for Kunzite was reciprocated as well. She hoped they could have a future together. She rinsed her hair and wrung it out before turning off the water. She slipped into her tank top and boy shorts, which matched Usagi's in all but color. While Usagi's were bright pink, Minako's were orange.

"I think we should tell them soon," Usagi said, startling her.

"I do too, but not tonight. You had nightmares during the drive, and we have something very important to do tomorrow."

Her sister frowned, but eventually she nodded. "I just don't want him to look at me as weak and pathetic," Usagi said in a small voice.

Minako wrapped her in a hug. "I don't want that either. Kunzite sees me as an equal. A younger equal, but he knows I can take care of myself. I don't want him to think I can't take care of myself."

"Exactly," Usagi agreed. She turned Minako and started brushing her hair. "I know we can't ever forget what happened, but one day I want to get over it."

) * O * (

Kunzite turned when Mamoru came into the room and flushed guiltily. He hurried away from the bathroom door, thankful it had been his brother to catch him and not the girls.

"Minako said they plan to tell us," Mamoru said, his voice a low whisper. "Whatever it is sounds bad though."

Kunzite nodded. "I heard Minako begging someone not to hurt... her... I don't know who she was, in her sleep yesterday."

Mamoru frowned. "When Usagi had her nightmare in the car she was whimpering and begging someone to stop."

"Do you think they were...?" Kunzite couldn't finish the question. It hurt too much to think anyone had hurt his little Mina that way.

"Its what I'm leaning toward," Mamoru said, not needing an explanation.

Kunzite sighed and rubbed his face with both hands, staring at the bathroom door. "They think we wont see them as strong anymore. That we wont see them as equals. Usagi said she doesn't want you to think she's weak and pathetic."

"Well, we will just have to prepare for the worst. When they're ready, they'll tell us. Until then, we just keep supporting them and being their friends."

"I don't want to be just her friend," Kunzite whispered. "I want to be her everything."

Mamoru slapped his back in understanding. "Me too," he said, and they both waited for the ones they loved to emerge.

) * O * (

Usagi was staring up at a mountain with steam rising from the peak. A wreath of snow encircled the top of the mountain, but where the steam rose, the slopes were dry and brown. Puffs of thick white vapor escaped from the pinnacle in little waves.

 _Feeling pulled, Usagi began to climb the slope. Her muscles didn't ache and each step took her further than she thought possible. In moments she was at the top, looking over the lake of fire she had seen in her vision. The Crystals were both there, sitting on their pedestals._

 _Looking carefully over the edge, she could see a small area that didn't look dangerous to climb down, and she made her way towards it, taking the path the switch backed around a large stone outcropping. The crater was much deeper than she had imagined, and though the path was clear, it took much longer to climb down than it had to scale the entire mountain only moments before._

 _Finally, she reached the green Crystal with the red Crystal attached in the center. Carefully she reached her hand out to pick the stone up. Her hand passed through. She looked up and down the pedestal. Perhaps there was some instruction. Engraved at the bottom was a single word. Cerbero._

 _She didn't understand the word. It wasn't written in Japanese, or in English. Usagi rolled her eyes. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. She peered across the small lake of lava. She could see a path leading around one side, but it was treacherous. She could climb back to the top, but she didn't see a path down on that side. It was sheer._

 _Carefully she made her way along the treacherous path, terrified she would lose her balance and fall into the lake of fire. For several steps she held her breath, her mind racing with panic, until the trail widened and she could walk easily again. She made her way to the second pedestal. Again, she reached for the Crystal, and again, her hand passed through without touching._

 _Remembering the word on the first one, she looked at the bottom. Cherufe. She made her way back to the other side, a bit more sure than before, and climbed the path to the top of the crater. Looking carefully at the landscape she tried to mark the location in her mind. Every time she focused on a landmark the entire world seemed to blur. She couldn't make any of the details clear in her mind._

 _She stepped down and made her way from the peak. Looking back she noted the snow. Her mind conjured a picture of a word on a pedestal. Cerbero._

Usagi sat up and snatched the packet to her. **Cerbero?** She wrote carefully. She looked around at the others, who were all still sleeping. It was just past three in the morning. She had time to make a quick search. She pulled out her laptop and turned on the portable hotspot.

When Usagi typed in the word Cerbero, a site came up, but all the words were in another language. She found a translator online and copied and pasted parts of the text into it to discover what she had found.

Cerbero was the Spanish name for Cerberus, a creature from Greek Mythology that was supposed to be the hound of Hades himself and was defeated by Heracles. She saw pictures of the creature that showed three heads and a snake for a tail. The creature was considered a hellhound that sprang from various myths around the world.

She sighed as she continued to read.

 _A hellhound is a supernatural dog in folklore. It has taken many forms, including Cerberus from Greek Mythology. They are often associated with glowing red eyes, the smell of sulfur, super strength and incredible speed as well as ghostly or phantom characteristics._

 _Legends often give a warning that if a person looks into the eyes of a hellhound three times, they will die. Seeing or hearing a hellhound is considered unlucky, and is often attributed with untimely death._

 _The creatures may have fire-based abilities and in some cultures are shown to include fire in their appearance. They are often considered guardians of the underworld and in some cultures are associated with graveyards and burial grounds. They are also said to guard supernatural treasures, and unlike normal canines they can track through water and once they have the scent of their prey nothing will stop them from their hunt._

Usagi wanted to scream. If the two creatures she had researched really were guarding the Crystals, she wasn't sure how they could possibly take them. She researched how to destroy the creature and came up with so many conflicting stories she was more confused than before. It occurred to her that the best option might not be attempting to kill the creature, but rather to contain it. She sighed. She didn't know how to do that either.

She closed down her laptop and put everything away before pulling out their breakfast. Then she turned on the lights. Minako groaned and turned onto her stomach, pulling a pillow over her head. Usagi giggled.

Mamoru and Kunzite both got up, but it took Kunzite several minutes of tickle torture to get Minako off the futon and to the table. She glared at all of them until Usagi set a cup of hot chocolate in front of her.

She didn't mention her newest dream, or the monster she'd researched. That could wait until they were all awake and ready to climb.

Within twenty minutes they were all in the car. Mamoru drove and Usagi took the front passenger seat, hoping her nausea wouldn't be so bad that way. She hated her car sickness and wished it would go away. They drove up the mountain and pulled into a parking spot as the sky began to change from near black to grey-blue. The sun would be up soon enough. She put her compass into her sweater pocket and took out the map. Walking around the parking lot she could see the entrance to all of the trails. She found the one they would be taking and hurried to it, waiting for the others.

Thankfully Minako was fully awake and in a better mood by the time the sky had lightened enough for them to see. She put her camera on, hoping to take some pictures, and Usagi did the same. They'd talked about it and they planned to not only take pictures of each location, but to gather something special for the others. They wanted their family to feel included.

"You ready for this?" Usagi asked.

"I really am," Minako said, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "I'm a bit excited about it actually. Soon we might have two more family members home and safe."

Usagi nodded happily. Mamoru and Kunzite finally reached them and they started up the trail.

) * O * (

It had been a long morning. Minako sighed as she settled under a sakura tree to rest. She closed her eyes, hoping to meditate a little. She wanted to see if they were in the right place. Usagi sat beside her and in moments was completely still and silent. The guys copied them, but both were restless. She ignored them and kept her eyes closed. An image of a crater appeared in front of her. At the bottom was a lake of lava. She gasped, looking at the two pedastals Usagi had seen repeatedly.

After a long time though, she opened her eyes. She could see the crater, but not the outer part of the mountain. Without that there was no telling if they were in the right place. There was nothing for it but to continue hiking.

Minako found a lonely spot under a sakura tree to meditate. They didn't actually need to go to the temple, and it was loaded with tourists anyways. She sighed. Closing her eyes, she tried to focus.

) * O * (

Kunzite was frustrated. The little clues the two girls had been getting just weren't enough. He wished there was a way they could just share their visions, like they all had in the Jinja. That would be the easiest way. If this volcano didn't pan out and neither did Sakura-jima, then they would have to take a boat out and start looking at the active volcanoes along the islands. If that didn't work then it meant a plane to another country, and that could be a problem.

Eventually they all got up and started walking again. The trail grew more and more narrow as they climbed. Small branches covered the path and he found himself ducking under them, climbing over them, or holding them to the side. He panted with exertion, and struggled over massive boulders and small brooks. The path was almost gone. So was the sun. He looked up and saw that heavy rain clouds had moved in.

"We either need to turn back or find a safe place to stop," Mamoru said, from just in front of him.

Usagi pointed to a small area covered by trees but with an open area in the middle. "We can set up camp there," she said.

Kunzite checked the time on his communicator. It was almost four in the afternoon. If they stopped now they wouldn't get to the top today. He'd wanted to have the girls safe at the hotel that night, but it didn't look like that was going to happen.

They made their way to the clearing. He watched as Usagi pulled a large tarp from her subspace pocket and began tapping it into the ground using sticks in the little holes around the edges. Minako pulled out the tent and started sorting out the pieces. Mamoru pulled out another tarp and strung it over several tree branches to protect the tent and the area their fire would be placed.

Kunzite shrugged and started collecting as much fire wood as he could, bringing it over to the edge of the tarp on the ground and stacking it neatly. He had been camping when he was younger and knew how to set the wood and light the fire, so he started on that while Usagi pulled out the camp stove. It had a little bottle of propane sticking from the side, which meant even if it poured and their fire was drenched, they would still be able to cook and eat.

Between the four of them camp was set up within forty minutes and they were all sitting around the fire. Mamoru had used a second tarp to block it from rain, which had already begun to fall steadily. It seemed like even the weather was against them. He sighed, knowing he was being fanciful and foolish. Usagi unfolded a little table and they settled around it to eat.

"I had another vision last night," she said finally. Kunzite turned his attention to her, waiting for the newest information.

) * O * (

Mamoru liked the sound of the rain hitting the tarp. They'd opened the vented window at the back of the tent and the other on the door, which meant there was a nice breeze through the space. Even on the thick mats they'd unrolled, sleeping on the ground was a bit uncomfortable. But with Usagi curled up in his arms, snoring peacefully, he thought he would take any sort of hardship.

He had a lot to think about. One of the most important was a series of clues he thought the others might be missing. The dragons had started it. The casual way Minako had said they weren't Asian dragons. Then the clues Usagi had read off the pedestals in her dreams. A Cherufe was from South America and Cerbero was the Spanish version of Cerberus. He thought it was highly likely they weren't searching in the right place.

He wondered if he should suggest they call their search in Japan quits and go straight for the volcano in Chile.

Usagi gasped suddenly in her sleep and he heard her murmuring something. Moving his head slightly, he closed the distance so he could hear her.

"Please don't," she begged, whimpering. "Don't do it. Please!"

She gasped and sat up, shaking like a leaf. Mamoru soothed her, holding her close as she shivered in his arms.

"I've got you little Usako," he said. "You're safe."

* * *

 **D Point - The Arctic Circle - Dark Kingdom (Negaverse)**

* * *

Queen Beryl strode back and forth in her private chambers, rage welling up within her. The children were failing left and right and she knew she would suffer the consequences if they continued to do so. What she needed was an edge. Something that could enable her to see the possible outcomes and plan ahead.

There had to be something out there that could tell her the future. Something out there that could give her the upper hand so she could finally win.

She briefly thought of her brother. Agate might be worth a second look. There was a chance he could track the crystals if the other children were waking and coming into their powers. With a frown she dismissed the idea. He had already failed her once.

No, what she needed was something entirely new and different. She needed to see into the future. She smoothed her hands down her dress as she contemplated creating a Youma designed for that purpose. It wasn't something she could trust the children with. She would have to do it on her own, in secret.

A laugh escaped and echoed around her room. Perhaps it was odd to feel a thrill when contemplating building a Youma. The young ones certainly didn't seem to enjoy the task. She had created many in the beginning. It was how she had taken her brother and put him in the chamber to be filled with dark energy.

Yes. She would create the perfect Youma. It would give her the edge she needed and she would finally take the rest of those brats and chain the princess like a dog at her feet.


	9. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:** Sorry about the delay in this story. I have to type everything on my phone and it's taking forever. Unfortunately, until/unless I get a new laptop, I will be stuck typing everything on my phone for a while. There may be more errors than normal as well, so please let me know if you see any.

* * *

 **Unknown Force:**  
 **Quest for the Crystals**  
 **Chapter Eight**

* * *

 **Kirishma, Kyushu Japan**

* * *

Usagi sniffled, clinging to Mamoru. Though it wasn't really cold, she couldn't seem to stop shivering. Only his arms around her kept her feeling safe and warm. On the other side of the tent Minako began to thrash in her sleep, waking Kunzite. He sat up and pulled her sister into his lap, shaking her gently awake.

"What is going on?" Kunzite asked, sounding worried and frustrated.

Usagi knew he and Mamoru both only wanted to help, but they had kept their silence for so long it was difficult to anything different. Cerulean and azure eyes clashed as Usagi and Minako stared at one another. Then Minako nodded her head slowly. It was time.

"We were sworn to secrecy," Usagi said, her voice low. "But we trust both of you to understand why we've never spoken, and to keep your silence as well."

"We would never betray you," Mamoru said.

"It isn't our secret alone," Minako clarified.

Neither man spoke. They simply waited, as patiently as they could, for Minako and Usagi to be ready. It took a few moments to gather herself, and she looked over to see her sister nod in agreement before she started again.

"We were on the train, going to see that American movie. The one with the dinosaurs." Usagi bit her lip as she remembered how excited they had both been.

"It was a hot day. That's why we took the train," Minako added, voice shaking with emotion.

Usagi could almost feel the steamy, humid air, the heat rising from the sidewalks in waves. They had avoided the bus because Usagi got motion sickness. The train had been less crowded without the weekday work rush.

"We were in the last car. It was quiet. There was this feeling though, like something was coming. And there were maybe twenty of us inside." Usagi shivered. "We thought about getting back off, but by the time we'd made the decision, the doors were already closed and the train was moving."

Minako picked up the story without pause. "We saw her right away. It was exciting. We knew who she was, though we weren't sure anyone else did. She was surrounded by four large men, all dressed alike. They weren't in uniforms, but we knew it was the imperial guard."

Mamoru gasped, but Usagi didn't give him a chance to speak.

"What happened next startled us both. We screamed. A single man stood, but with him were two other men. The four guards were dead before any of us could blink. The two men herded us and the others except her into one corner. Then they started slitting throats. The oldest first. It was a woman. She had a grocery bag in her hand. When she died, the bag fell and there were apples that went rolling down the train car. They laughed when the princess screamed. They wanted something from her."

"We didn't understand what they were asking for. We were just holding on to each other. Too scared to scream anymore. Too afraid to run." Minako shook and cried as she spoke.

"We were the last two, and the youngest by far. The men grabbed us. They were holding us by our necks, holding the knives. We didn't even try to fight. The princess was weeping. I knew she either didn't have, or couldn't give, whatever it was the men wanted. The man near her grabbed her by the throat and held her up, her feet off the ground. He said..." Usagi's voice trailed off.

"He told her to watch what was about to happen to her. And then he nodded to the men holding us. They cut off our c-clothes. I thought... We thought..." Minako couldn't finish and Usagi didn't blame her. She had thought they would be assaulted. They hadn't been. She felt Mamoru's arms tighten around her.

"They cut us open. Right across our bellies. And then they reached in and started pulling." Usagi gagged. "Pulling on our intestines," she clarified.

"Then Usagi and I were glowing. Silver and orange," Minako said. "And the princess glowed too. Jade green. The three men... They burned. They let go of us when it started, but they just stumbled to the floor, screaming. And they burned until nothing was left but a pile of charred bones."

Usagi took up the explanation. "The men had an accomplice driving the train, but the princess' guards hadn't checked in and so he finally stopped, far outside Tokyo. She wasn't hurt. Not physically, but she was weeping and fell to her knees begging forgiveness."

"Usagi was still getting brighter and brighter," Minako said. "And then we were both healed, but we were still covered in blood. Our clothes were cut into ribbons, and all around us people were dead."

Usagi sighed. "When the train finally stopped the princess was clinging to us. I think the guard planned to kill us to keep us quiet but she wouldn't let them. Held a knife to her palm and sliced it, then cut each of ours and mingled the blood. Tiny flames were all over the wounds and they healed instantly leaving only a thin scar." She held up her hand in the dim light to show the others. Minako held hers up as well.

Minako started explaining again. "They covered it up, made it look like a fire. Us three girls were taken to the hospital. No one else knew who she was. Kobiyashi-san came and we signed an agreement that we wouldn't ever tell the police or reporters or even a counselor what had happened."

"Now you know our secret," Usagi said. "And no one can ever know it. Not about us or the people who died, or that the princess holds the Jade Dragon Crystal."

There was a moment of prolonged silence, but Usagi felt Mamoru tighten his arms around her. "You two were so brave," he finally whispered. "We thought it was something bad, but that..." he shuddered. "You might have died. All three of you. It must have been terrifying. But you survived."

"That's what's important," Kunzite said. His arms were banded around Minako and he was unconsciously holding the place she had been cut open.

"We wont ever tell a soul," Mamoru promised. "No one will learn from us."

"Is that why the princess hasn't been seen in public all this time?" Kunzite looked curious.

Usagi nodded. "We think so. We met with her once, about two weeks after it happened. An imperial guard came to the house. She hadn't been speaking and was refusing to eat. When she stopped drinking her father panicked and sent for us. I guess he thought seeing us would help."

"Did it?" Kuzite asked.

"I think so," Minako answered, frowning. "She finally spoke. And we made her promise to take care of herself. I think she understood it wasn't only her burden to bear. We've talked to her a few times, but now there are people in the palace who are acting like everyone else. No one can know she has it. No one can know what happened that day. She knows something about us though, I think. She made it seem like she understood why we glowed that day. She wouldn't explain. Said something about a prophecy. But she knows."

"Maybe we should go see her," Mamoru said, frowning as he peered out the mesh window of the tent.

"No. It's too dangerous now. No one can know she's ever been associated with us. It could turn all of Tokyo against her and the Imperial family. She's too important. I know that Jade Dragon Crystal has some significance, but I don't know what. I just know it protects her." Usagi shivered, remembering the way the men had gone up in flames.

"Don't worry," Mamoru said. "We can keep the secret." She knew he meant his words. He would never do anything to betray her.

) * O * (

They were up and the tent packed before first light. Mamoru looked up through the trees, checking for clouds as the first rays of the sun hit their tops, making them seem to glow in the early light. He smiled when he saw the clear sky, then bent to fold the tarp the tent had rested on. Before long they had all eaten and everything was packed away into the backpacks and subspace pockets.

"How much further do you think it is?" Minako asked, her head resting on Usagi's shoulder. The girls looked over the map of the trail they had been following. Usagi handed her sister a compass as she poured over the detailed drawings inside.

"I'm pretty sure we have about an hour left of climbing before we hit the rim," Usagi said finally. She pulled a pencil from somewhere and made a mark on the paper. "We might want to come back to make camp," she said after a moment.

"Or we could cheat," Minako suggested.

Mamoru groaned. 'Not this again,' he thought with frustration. Minako really wanted to use their abilities to teleport, but she wasn't considering the consequences of being seen. Even if they were in henshin, if someone noticed them it was likely the Dark Generals would learn where they were, and if that happened they might realize there was a quest. While they couldn't keep their mission a secret forever, he would prefer not to be hounded every step of the way.

"It's not a good idea yet," Usagi said softly, echoing his thoughts. "We can't tip our hand just yet."

Minako only nodded. Kunzite groaned behind him and Mamoru hid a laugh. The girls would easily aquiesce to each other, and yet argue heatedly with them. It was a frustrating fact of life. But one he was willing to endure for the sake of being close to Usagi.

"Are you two ready?" he asked once he had himself under control.

"I am," Usagi said, then looked to Minako who only nodded. "Kun? You ready?"

"Yes," Kunzite said, "I want to see the volcano."

Mamoru hefted his pack onto his shoulders and led the way back to the path. Soon they were making quick progress, though the trail was steep. Usagi was the fastest on flat ground, but Kunzite seemed to have the most staying power climbing.

They reached the peak just as the sun rose over the edge, blinding them slightly. Mamoru shielded his eyes for a moment, then quickly became enamoured of the beautiful sight around him. The peak was gorgeous, and though the volcano was technically active, there was little to see. There was no massive lake of lava to look into, and he could hardly see anything but fountains of steam.

In spite of the let-down, he thought the place was incredible, breathtaking and wild, though there were other groups of tourists climbing to the top. They explored the area thoroughly, looking for hidden places that others didn't know about, but there was nothing. There was no feeling that they were in the right place, and no indication that anything was special about the area.

"It isn't here," Usagi said. "I don't know how I know. I just know."

"I feel it too," Minako said quietly.

"I'm sorry I wasted your time," Usagi murmured. She looked around. "Phobos and Demos haven't appeared even once since we left the cabin," she added, clicking her tongue. "I think those two can sense we aren't in the right place. I should have figured that out. This is all my fault."

Mamoru shook his head. "No. Don't do that. Every place we mark off our list means we are just one step closer. You say you see a lake of lava every time you dream. So we need to find volcanoes with lava lakes. That's all."

"It means a trip out of the country," Kunzite reminded them. "Kobiyashi-san wanted us to make sure the place wasn't here in Japan first. It's where the Dark Kingdom is active."

"It hasn't always been here," Usagi argued. "There was Dark Kingdom activity in England two years ago. And in America seven years ago. I think whatever it is they are looking for, they are searching the entire planet for it. For all we know they could be active everywhere."

"Besides," Minako said softly, "the queen made it pretty clear that she had done something to effect the stones."

"True," Mamoru mused, "but Kunzite also has a point. We did tell him we would check out the most active places in Japan first, and unless we get much better clues, it's what we have to do."

"Or," Minako said, the heels of her hands pressed against her eyes, "we could find pictures of all the volcanoes. I mean think about it, we aren't typical tourists and Usagi and I have been taking pictures. How many pictures do you think a tourist would take. We could try and find a temple or shrine and see if we can access the vision together. If we can do that, then we might be able to eliminate places by looking at the pictures."

Usagi looked stunned. "Why didn't I think of that?" she asked no one in particular.

"Because I'm the awesome one," Minako giggled.

Usagi tickled her sister to within an inch of her life, knocking her to the ground in the process. They laughed like loons, and before long Kunzite and Mamoru had both joined it. It relieved the pressure they had all been feeling.

* * *

 **Tokyo, Japan**

* * *

Motoki settled into the seat and turned on his new laptop. He wasn't entirely thrilled to be homeschooling, but he had accepted that it was the safest alternative. The others filled the room as well. Each had their own computers open and were busy doing their work. Some of the lessons were video recordings, while others were written or interactive.

As he worked, he kept his eyes trained firmly on the screen in front of him, rather than on the bank of televisions the two cats were monitoring. That was still a bit difficult to swallow. Two cats were actually watching the news. How was that for strange? They spoke and interacted with everyone, which had been easier to accept then them watching the news and using computers.

The two pups were an easier pill to swallow. They were young and, though they spoke, it was in mental voices. They followed Shingo and Hotaru around with a mix of protectiveness and awe that came across as complete devotion. It was actually rather cute and, unless they were speaking, he could almost believe they were normal puppies rather than Lunarian Wolves.

Living with his friends wasn't a hardship, but he missed his family, especially his baby sister. There was something about Unazuki that made him feel stronger. Perhaps it was only his protective instincts, but he thought it was more than that. She made him have faith in himself.

Haruna-sensei had called that morning to check on them and told Motoki that if he needed someone to talk to she was willing to listen. He had been very grateful. He and Mamoru had been in her class in seventh grade, learning English. She was a good teacher, and kind. She was supposed to come and see them at some point soon, and he wondered how they would hide the strangeness in the house.

There was a sudden beeping sound from one of the computers. Fiore's head came up quickly and he seemed to be on alert. Setsuna and Haruki hurried over to where Luna was scanning over some sort of map on the computer that appeared to be moving on it's own as a location was pinpointed.

"Shibuya Crossing," Luna hissed. "Go. Quickly!"

Motoki watched in amazement as Shingo and Hotaru hurried out of their own chairs. Haruki, Setsuna, and Fiore all followed them out of the room. A moment later he could hear them in the hallway, almost one on top of the other as they changed into their hero forms. He raced to the doorway, Naru and Umino mere steps behind him, and watched as they gathered together and held hands. Then they were gone as though they had never been.

"How do they do that?" Naru asked. "It can't be easy."

"I doubt it is," Motoki said, feeling a little overwhelmed. "I hope everything is okay."

) * O * (

Rei frowned as she watched the crossing from the top of a tall building. The Youma that had been sent to them, a female made entirely of flame, was about to enter the busy intersection. She knew people would be burned, seriously injured, and possibly even killed. It would drain the energy of anyone the flames touched.

Unfortunately she couldn't put off it's release any longer. In spite of having another Youma prepared for the radio program, the Queen wanted this one released in a heavily populated area. And Shibuya Crossing was one of the most pedestrian heavy places in Tokyo. Just outside of Shibuya station, it had five crosswalks over a busy street with hundreds crossing each way at a time.

"Go," Jadeite said, sounding just as frustrated and worried as she felt.

Neither of them wanted to be the cause of an innocent's death, but they had no choice other than to obey, even if they hated what they had to do. Rei wondered why the queen even bothered keeping them full of dark energy. Even when it was at it's weakest, they were still unable to help themselves from following her commands.

She watched the Flame Youma leap from the roof of the skyscraper down to the center crosswalk, the one that cut diagonally across the busy street. There must have been fifty people in the crossing, and as soon as the Youma hit the ground, flames began to spread. Rei couldn't hear the screams from her position, but she knew people were screaming, and possibly dying.

She forced herself to watch. She wouldn't let herself escape the visions of the pain she was causing. It was unfair to the people she would hurt. Jadeite stood beside her and grabbed her hand. His palm was sweaty and he clenched slightly too hard, telling Rei without words how upset he was. But they had no choice.

) * O * (

Blue Moon Knight felt the pressure and darkness of teleportation take him. It lasted half a heartbeat before he stepped out into madness. The crossing was filled with people, and many of them writhed on the street, screaming in horror and pain. The Youma, a creature that seemed to be made entirely of flame, was sending out what looked like flares of some sort.

People were hurt. Badly. But the moment he and the others appeared, those who were uninjured seemed to focus on them as though they were the enemies. He couldn't let that slow him down however.

"Blue Moon Radiance!" he yelled, brandishing his sword as a burst of blue-white light flew from the tip toward the Youma.

Meanwhile, Sailor Saturn lowered her glaive, and silence rang out in the crowd as a wave of energy flew out, extinguishing the flames of the burning victims. Unfortunately, the Youma itself didn't seem to be effected.

Then Sun Knight stepped forward. He didn't pull out his own sword for an attack however. Instead, he reached up and lifted the diadem off his forehead and threw it at the monster. The glowing metal disk hovered over the creature, and then seemed to expand, covering the Youma entirely before it started to shrink into a smaller and smaller space. He didn't hear what Sun Knight shouted, but soon the Youma was filtering over the pavement, no more than a pile of dust.

Then Sun Knight paused to send out healing to the people, but someone threw a heavy book at him. Another person threw something in a small glass vial that broke open when it hit the street. Blue Moon Knight realized it was some sort of perfume. More and more things were thrown and they were being hit from all sides. They wouldn't be able to stay and heal anyone.

He raced to Sun Knight, then grabbed hold of Saturn and Fiore. Before long Pluto was there and the five of them teleported away before any serious harm could come to them. They appeared in their own home, and raced back into the room that now doubled as a school room and meeting room. They watched on television as first responders began to arrive on scene, but he could tell not everyone would make it.

"What is wrong with these people?" Setsuna asked, having released her transformation.

Releasing his henshin, he shook his head. "I don't know. We might have saved some of those people. How many are hurt? How many are dead?"

"Too many," Haruki said sadly. "I wish we could heal the people. There is something infecting them, like a plague."

Naru appeared behind them. "Usagi and the others are working on it," she said softly. "I just wish there weren't so many infected. How many could have been saved if those people had let you help?"

Haruki seemed depressed. He slumped into a chair and stared at the monitor where a news helicopter hovered over the busy intersection. The reporter was muted, but the ticker at the bottom of the screen called the five of them criminals and said Tokyo didn't need vigilantes. Shingo sighed, feeling defeated, and sat down. No one wanted their help.

::It's okay,:: Tomatsu said, hopping up onto Shingo's lap. ::It will be okay.::

Shingo only nodded. He didn't feel like explaining the truth to the pup. In a world where they were the only ones who could stop the Youma, but where they weren't wanted, the people were doomed, and there was nothing they could do about it.

* * *

 **5,476 miles from Earth**

* * *

"What is this solar system called Mother?" An asked, looking toward the view screen.

Mother's voice wasn't audible. It came more as a mental voice, suffused in emotion and feeling. ::It was once called the Silver Millennium, but now the denizens only call it The Solar System. They are unaware of other races and have lost much since the dark once came to this place.::

"That's a sad thing," Ail said, his gaze locked on the view screen. "Are we sure he came to this world?"

::He is here,:: Mother said, longing and sadness filling their minds as she spoke. ::Oh my poor son, so lost. But he has found a family to call his own. He needs us now, more than ever before.::

"Who called us then, if it wasn't him?" An asked, confused. They had long believed they were the last of their kind. To find another, and one who had sacrificed himself to save so many, was a miracle.

::There are those here who have special gifts. They have been reborn. One called to me for him. Her mental voice is strong, and her love for Fiore great. She is his friend, and more, like a sister.:: Mother sounded sad still, and An wanted to reassure her that Fiore would have them as well. ::Remember, they are not loved yet. We will not be either. The place they are is sick. The dark one has awakened and will try to turn everyone against them. We must not be noticed.::

An nodded. She knew there were worlds where there was danger. She'd been to many. She could remember, years before, when Mother had left their own home world in an attempt to save those of her children who had not lost themselves to greed and fear. Since that day they had been searching for a new home. A place where they could finally set down roots.

Over time they had been chased away from planets, or attacked on sight. On some worlds their kind was stolen by the inhabitants and studied in laboratories. Other places had a few who welcomed them, but they were forced to keep their presence a secret. This world would be no different. An could sense it already. She had waved goodbye to three sisters and two brothers on worlds such as this. Those who had found their soulmates and left them forever.

Ail frowned. He pointed to the blinking red indicator light on the screen. "This is Tokyo," he said. "That is the city where Fiore is, if the information sent is correct. We will have to be very careful to hide ourselves and the ship. Mother can you camouflage us before we get there. They have machines pointed into space to take pictures. They may have already spotted us."

::I have already hidden what we are,:: Mother said softly. ::Do not worry my children, we are seen only as a tiny meteorite, and no reason for concern. I will land us in the ocean off Tokyo, and when night falls we can fly to a hidden place where no one will think to look. But you must blend in if you leave the ship.::

"Yes Mother," Ail and An chorused.

She worried for them, as any good mother would. She had every right to do so. Once, An had saved a creature, thinking it a harmless thing, but it had been a strange being called a Kisenian blossom, a hostile race that was able to control the minds and feelings of others. It had already begun to work on her when Ail had spotted the creature and shouted, causing Mother to take notice. She had ordered An to remove it from the ship and they had left the little blossom on an uninhabited planet where it could harm no one.

Unfortunately it had taken much to get An to release the creature, and she had nearly succumbed to it's will before the end. Only the tears of Mother had saved her. She turned her gaze and caught the bright green of Mother's branches, the silvery brown of her thick trunk, the pods that had once birthed them and now sustained them. Mother loved them very much. An wouldn't make the same mistake twice. Not all creatures could be trusted.

"Prepare for landing," Ail said beside her, and An turned to see that they were indeed closing in on the planet rapidly.

It was a beautiful planet. Most of it appeared to be covered in water. The land masses were a mix of browns and greens and whites. And there were floating bits of vapor. Clouds if the information they had gathered was correct. On this planet they were harmless to pass through, unless there was something called a storm, which created bolts of energy that could cause damage. Mother seemed to think they were safe however.

"Two minutes," An informed the others.

Ail nodded and Mother said nothing. She was already strapped in for landing. Not that she moved much anyways. Ail buckled into his seat and An focused on pulling her harness over herself. The landing shouldn't be difficult. The waters of the ocean were apparently quite buoyant and the landing would be rather softer than on land.

Before she knew it An was closing her eyes as the view screen showed a mass of blue rushing up to meet them. It was the other way around, of course, but it appeared that way. The thrusters slowed them before they actually hit the surface, but she knew Mother would make it seem as though they never lost momentum.

Then they were floating in deep blue waters. There were creatures inside. At first they scattered wildly from the craft, but soon they grew curious. The creatures moved gracefully, flying through the depths. Some were silvery, while others were very bright. They seemed to come in all shapes and sizes. Some grew from the bottom, like plants, while others moved over the surface. There were more creatures over the waters as well. Birds.

"What is that creature?" Ail asked suddenly.

An took a closer look. It was a dark grey color and flowed very fast after another creature. It had sharp teeth in it's mouth and looked rather frightening. It's nose was very pointed, but it was wide at the middle with strange wings coming out from either side and another on it's back. There was even a wing on it's tail.

::That is a shark,:: Mother said, humor in her mental voice. ::They can be slightly frightening, but cannot hurt us here. They are not the most intelligent of the sea creatures, but are among the deadliest for marine life. They eat other sharks, fish, porpoises, and have even been known to bite humans, though I believe they spit them right back out. Apparently humans are not very tasty to them. Other sea creatures are quite intelligent. There are dolphins and whales that are mammals, like the humans, and nurse their young.::

"Mammals?" An asked.

::We will all learn much on this planet, I think.:: Mother said, laughing. The sound of swaying leaves filled the air around them.

"I think I feel him," Ail said suddenly.

An closed her eyes and let her mind wander. She could feel the faint presence of another like her. He was in Tokyo. Faint with distance, but there. It might take a bit to find him, but they would. He wouldn't be alone ever again. Mother would see to that.

* * *

 **D Point - The Arctic Circle - Dark Kingdom (Negaverse)**

* * *

Ami stared up through the glass lid of the chamber, her mind filled with terrible images of pain and despair. People throwing things at her, taunting her, calling her names. People stabbing and burning her. She knew, somewhere in the recesses of her mind that none of it was real, but her heart raced and her palms sweat and her entire body felt like it should be in action. Running, fighting, trying to survive.

She couldn't be sure how long she had been there. Days, weeks, months, possibly years. It was impossible to know. The only thing that kept her remotely sane was the feel of Zoicite's arm against her own. She could hear his sobbing gasps for breath and knew he was enduring the same sort of horror she was. It was worse, somehow, knowing someone she cared about was in pain.

Youma slithered on the edge of her vision. They crept around the chambers that were used to flood dark energy into victims, ready to stop anyone who tried to interfere. It wasn't as though she or Zoicite could escape. There was no way to move more than her eyelids or her lips. She could hardly make a sound, and she couldn't speak at all. Her mind wasn't coherent enough for that. At least not on a conscious level.

She wanted to escape. More than she wanted her next breath she wanted out of the chamber that reminded her of a coffin. It was see-through, but had a strange purple tint to it she knew was caused by the dark energy that filled the interior. She could feel Metallia's taint on her skin. Mentally she hadn't stopped screaming since the lid had closed.

'Someone help me,' she thought. 'Someone save me!'

) * O * (

Queen Beryl laughed as she checked in on her minions. That's all they were to her. They had little say over their own lives. They could go nowhere and do nothing without her permission. She was their master and they were little more than dogs. She could hear the mental pleas of the one called Ami and it delighted her.

Her mind turned to the princess. She needed to collect her. Soon. She would chain her like the worthless dog she was. The girl would be forced to watch as the prince succumbed to her charms. It would be glorious. The prince would be hers and revenge would be sweet. That stupid princess had ruined all of her plans.

She had been meant to be queen of the Earth. She could have been so much more than a noble. She could have ruled the world. It didn't matter to her that her plans had included killing the prince after they married. He never should have presumed to fall in love with the moon bitch. Now she would enjoy bringing him to heel.

Her other minions were busily doing her work. In Tokyo the release of the Flame Youma had gone perfectly. Not only had people died and been injured, but it had caused pain for Rei and Jadeite. That was important. She wanted them all to suffer. They had protected the prince and princess in their last lives. They deserved to feel the pain of it in this. The more pain she caused them, the more they would hate the royal pair.

Beryl laughed aloud, causing one of the Youma to shrink in on itself. A worthless pet she had set up to be harmed whenever she was angry. She liked causing pain herself. There was something about watching a person, or a creature, flinch away that made her feel strong and powerful.

Soon she would have the prince and her revenge would be complete.

) * O * (

Metallia stirred. Her prison was weakened as she drew energy from the dead and dying the Youma had sapped energy from before it's death. She could think freely, and it was glorious. She felt the mirth of the woman she was using and searched her mind.

Stupid girl didn't even know she was there. The woman often forgot who was truly in charge. She wouldn't forget for much longer. When Metallia broke free she would no longer have a use for the worthless chit. She would destroy her, sapping the life force from her once and for all. She had been stealing it for years, and Beryl was completely unaware. Even as her youth and beauty faded, her mind warped until she didn't notice her skin had become paper thin and she was a shell of a woman.

It was fitting.

Beryl would have to be punished for her lack of attention. The goal was to bring Metallia energy, not waste her time on petty revenge. If she did capture the princess, Metallia would kill the girl, draining her completely before Beryl could speak a word.

* * *

 **Kirishima, Kyushu Japan**

* * *

Minako sighed with relief when they made it back to the car before dusk. She hadn't realized how much of their day had been interrupted by the storm the day before. None of them had understood the darkness was a product of thick clouds rather than night falling.

Usagi settled into the front passenger seat, looking anxious. Minako couldn't blame her. The girl dealt with some serious motion sickness. Cars had never bothered Minako, or any of the others except on occasion Shingo. She wondered if it had something to do with their biological makeup, but couldn't really figure it out.

For a moment she thought she heard a voice, as though it was in the car with them. Someone asking for help, but the voice faded away to nothing. Usagi was looking around as though she had heard it too. It took a moment but she realized Mamoru and Kunzite were equally as affected.

"What was that?" Usagi asked. "Did you all hear her?"

"I did," Minako said.

"Me too," Kunzite added.

"I heard her," Mamoru said a moment later. "Whoever it was, she isn't really here, but I heard her voice."

"She sounded terrified," Minako said, shivering.

Mamoru was driving the car, which left Kunzite sitting beside her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him in a gesture of comfort and support. She leaned heavily on him, thankful he was next to her.

"Someone needs our help," Usagi said.

"I don't think we can get to her right now," Minako said sadly. "It felt like she was really far away."

Usagi was no longer listening. Instead her eyes were trained on the sky. She was biting her lip, looking pensive. She shook her head, then leaned forward and looked out again. It almost seemed as though she was arguing with herself.

"Someone is here," she whispered.

Minako reached forward and put a hand on her shoulder. She saw Mamoru put his own on her thigh. Beside her Kunzite leaned forward as well and also rested a hand on Usagi's shoulder until they were all connected. She could almost feel Usagi's mind reaching out, could almost hear an echoing mind reaching back.

"It's a good thing," Mamoru said suddenly. "I can feel it."

None of their conversation since they'd gotten into the car made any sense. It was almost as though they were sensing someone, or something, but none of them were entirely sure who or what it was. She could feel it though. Someone had arrived. Someone strong and loving, pure and kind. Someone who would help them defeat the enemies they faced. And someone else was reaching out, hoping for help in a desperate moment. Help they couldn't yet give.


	10. Chapter 9

**Author's Note:** Can you believe it's been more than seven months since I updated this story? When I realized that, and thought about how very different it is from all my others, I was surprised. Honestly, it's one of my favorites, but is quite labor intensive. Hours and hours of research go into each chapter. Most of those hours are enjoyable however, as I really do have a thirst for knowledge. My father has always said they day you stop learning is the day you die.

There is a lot of information tucked into this one chapter, and some very important hints for you to grasp. I had to go back and re-read all my old chapters, just to make sure I didn't miss anything, and I was surprised to learn I had left a few threads hanging. Oops. I really hope you enjoy this next installment. Please rate and review. I need the encouragement.

* * *

 **Unknown Force**  
 **Quest for the Crystals**  
 **Chapter Nine**

* * *

 **Tokyo, Japan**

* * *

When night had fallen the Makai tree had lifted the ship out of the ocean. In all of Tokyo she found only one place where she could rest and keep her children safely hidden. It was to a small clearing overlooking a stream that she traveled. The stars were bright in the sky as the ship landed and she cloaked it, hiding in a dimension slightly off from the one the rest of the world existed in. Only the opening to the ship would have access to Tokyo, and that only when she deemed it was safe. She had spent the last fifteen years trying to protect the last of her babies, and would do whatever it took to keep them hidden now.

"Can we go out and look?" Ail asked. He had always been curious to see new planets.

::Not yet my child,:: Mother said, laughing at his enthusiasm. ::First you must disguise yourself to hide among the people of this planet.:: She pulled up photographs on the computer. ::This is what the people of this world look like. They do not have green skin or brightly colored hair as you. Choose something as ordinary as you can.::

It was An who decided on reddish-brown hair and blue eyes for both of them. She closed her eyes and a moment later a small flash of light covered her. When it was gone a girl with pale skin stood in her place, wearing clothing fit for the people of earth rather than her normal jumpsuit. "Will this do Mother?" she asked.

::Very well An.:: When Ail had also changed, she gave her approval, but added caution. ::The people of this planet are new. We don't know enough about them yet to be safe. Have care with your words should you meet anyone. And remember, Tokyo is sick. Wrong. Don't lose sight of our mission.::

"We wont mother," Ail said, sending his love through their mental bond.

As her children left the ship, Mother sent her senses out into the world, and found several surprises that made her wonder just how far the silver one stretched.

) * O * (

Ail was cautious as he poked his head out of the ship and looked around. They seemed to be in a clearing that was slightly overgrown. It looked as though it might have long ago been used to plant crops, but this planet was so different he couldn't be sure. Water trickled by at one corner. A stream, he thought the word was called. Beautiful, with light shimmering from the moon above on the little peaks of water that traveled over rock and stone.

An nudged his shoulder and Ail stepped out, his bare feet touching the chilled, slightly damp shoots poking up from the earth. It tickled between his toes, and he smiled. "Wow," he breathed. "This planet is soft."

"Mother said it was grass," An informed him. "Come on. Let's explore."

::Don't go far,:: came the cautious thought from Mother.

::We won't Mother,:: they chorused.

They ran, laughing, over the grass until they reached a path through the woods. Both of them peeped into the darkness, and An turned to him. "Should we go this way?"

"Yes, but stay close." He reached for her hand. He didn't want to be separated from her.

Slowly and carefully they made their way down the path. Sharp rocks and stray twigs cut at their feet, making both of them wince. "Perhaps we should add shoes," An said after the third time she tripped. He stopped and closed his eyes, imagining a sturdy pair of shoes over his feet. When he looked down a pair of sneakers covered his toes. It was sad not to feel the sand and grass, but the rocks were far too sharp, though Mother could heal any injury.

At the end of the path a series of buildings opened up with rooves that sloped down, out, and then up. The walls were mostly made of rice paper, but in several places it was torn. Branches of trees poked through the material, beginning to take the place back into nature. There was a feeling of waiting in the air that made Ail long for Mother to heal the place. He could almost feel spirits whispering behind his ear.

"What is this place?" An asked.

"A Shinto Jinja," he explained. "This place isn't being taken care of though. It doesn't make sense. Why is it so empty?"

"I don't know," An said, moving closer and gripping his hand tightly.

They found a large red gate and walked down a set of stone steps. The street below them was nearly empty, but lights shone in the distance. Big metal boxes with wheels carried people down streets to either side, but none turned and came toward them. "So those are cars," he said, mostly to himself. "I want to ride in one."

"Later. Now though, I think we should look for Fiore."

"I don't think we'll be able to find him here tonight. I think we need to wait until the day. He would be out then."

"Still, I want to see him," An argued.

He turned and gripped her shoulders, turning her to look at him. "We will find him. I promise. Mother will help us. But we told her we wouldn't go far and this city feels wrong. Sick." He shuddered. There was a miasma of evil that almost seemed to hang over their heads, like fingers of fog reaching out to grab them. "We should go back."

An nodded and they had both turned when they heard laughter. Coming down the street were three boys. All of them looked to be around their own age, with thick, messy black hair. They were carrying long thin cans in their hands, and something was spraying from the top along the wall that surrounded the Jinja.

"We need to hide," Ail said. He could feel a wrongness to the boys. Something he couldn't describe, but felt the need to flee from. Ducking into the bushes beside the stairs, they both stayed still and silent as they watched them pass. Soon they could hear the boys speaking.

"... they should just kill them. Those Senshi are a menace. They just make it worse."

"I don't know, I think it's sort of cool to see them get their butts kicked. And those skirts." The second boy made a whistling sound that had Ail clinging even tighter to An, huddling over her protectively. He knew what lust was. Apparently it was on this planet too. Very few had moved beyond it.

"I wouldn't mind finding those two blonde girls," the first continued. "Beat the hell out of them. Teach them a lesson. They are stupid to go after the monsters like that. Maybe if we beat them no one else will be stupid. Kill them. Make them pay for all the trouble they caused."

"Why waste?" the second boy asked. "Put them somewhere they can't escape from and just beat them and use them."

The third boy was silent and his eyes were sad as he watched the others. He gave an obviously fake laugh when the others looked at him, but as soon as they turned away he wiped a tear from his eye and shook his shaggy head, then stared up at he Jinja as though he was looking for help. Finally the three of them passed by. An and Ail watched as the third boy took one last look before turning the corner.

When they climbed out of the bushes An was shaking and tears fell from her eyes. "That was so awful. Those boys were his friends. Those boys used to be like him. I could feel his pain and fear." She buried her face into his chest and sobbed. "This city is sick."

Ail could only hold onto her and murmur soothing words. Then he led her back to Mother, knowing her comfort would help them both. 'Please let Fiore not be like those boys,' he thought desperately.

* * *

 **Kirishma, Kyushu Japan**

* * *

As soon as they returned to cabin they were renting Mamoru and Kunzite began preparing a meal while Minako and Usagi checked in with those who had remained behind in Tokyo and began setting the table. They hardly spoke, each lost in their own thoughts as they ate their supper and washed themselves after their trip. Usagi and Minako took the bathroom first, stepping out to find tea prepared and waiting for them. Kunzite went in next.

Minako sipped her tea, then put it down and went to the futon she was sharing with Kunzite without a word. For several long moments Mamoru stared at Usagi, making her nervous. Then he unfolded himself from his cushion on the floor and took her hand. He guided her outside onto the tiny porch and sat on the little bench, pulling her down next to him.

"I think it's time we talked," he said softly.

Usagi's big cerulean eyes, lit by the light of the moon, blinked once as she stared up at him, wringing her hands together in front of her. "Did I do something wrong?" she asked, startling Mamoru.

"Of course you didn't," he said, taking one of her already chilled hands in his own.

He was frustrated with himself. Usagi was so sensitive to the feelings of others that he had forgotten to be careful with her. She always seemed to understand what he wanted or needed, and all he wanted was her. All he needed was her love. How she didn't see that, he couldn't understand. Watching her look up at him, completely focused on his face, Mamoru fell in love with her all over again.

"Usako," he said, using his pet name for her. "I want to tell you something important." He rubbed her fingers as he considered how to say what he was feeling. It was a difficult thing, expressing emotions. He always felt like he was floundering when he tried. But for Usagi, he would do anything. So he began to speak.

"Twelve years ago I was a lonely little boy in a hospital bed. Alone, scared, confused. I had no memory and no idea who I was, or where I had come from. I couldn't remember my parents, or even if they loved me. Then I met Fiore and I wasn't so alone, until he told me he had to leave. I remember crying, remember you opening my door and rushing over to see why I was upset, and to give me a flower." He smiled then, remembering how she hadn't been able to climb up on the big hospital bed without help. "You stopped Fiore from leaving, and ever since then, you have been there for me. Through all the best times, and the worst times. You are my best friend."

"You're my best friend too Mamo-chan," Usagi said, her voice soft as a summer breeze. She squeezed his hand, which had come to rest holding hers as he spoke, and smiled up at him.

"The thing is," Mamoru was nervous now. More nervous than he could ever remember being. "Over time, things have changed. In my head. I started seeing you differently. I didn't want to ruin our friendship, and you're younger than I am. So I stayed silent. But it's been hard. I don't know how it happened, or even when, but I fell in love with you Tsukino Usagi. Head over heels. When you transformed to fight the shadow Youma and I felt that pull, I knew it was you. My only thought was getting to you as fast as I could. I didn't even wait for Kunzite."

"Mamo-," he pressed his free hand over her lips.

"Wait, please let me finish."

Usagi nodded and he moved his hand, drawing it down her arm to hers which he clasped alongside the other. "Usagi, you are everything. Not just my friend, or the girl that I love. Everything. Without you I don't... I don't want to be here. On the planet. Alive. It's like you stole half of my heart and tucked it away. It only beats because of you."

'Great,' he thought, 'now I sound like a cheesy guy from a romantic movie.'

"Mamo-chan, can I talk now?" Usagi asked, sounding impatient. He smiled at her tone and nodded, hoping he wasn't about to get his heart stepped on. He had lain it at her feet and his future was in her hands.

"We're both very young," Usagi said. "Most people would assume that meant we don't know what we want. That we can't see our future clearly. They think youth means lack of wisdom. And perhaps, in some ways, it does. But I disagree. I think that wisdom doesn't come from age, but rather experience. Someone could be a hundred and not know what love is, what it means. Or they could be like us, still not adults by law, and yet so very grown up. What we went through, all of us, changed us completely. We might be fifteen and seventeen in years, but I feel like we're much older in experience."

Watching her earnest face as she spoke, Mamoru realized she had considered this already. It gave him hope. He wanted to just pull her into his arms and kiss her senseless, but he waited.

"I've loved you from the first moment we met," Usagi admitted. "But unlike you, I know exactly when it changed for me." A single tear slipped down her cheek. "I knew something was changing after what happened to Minako and I on the train. The way you became so protective and kind started it, I think. But it was the funeral. You were hurting. You had already lost your birth parents, and they were resting just three rows over, so I thought you would need me. I was already trying to be strong for Minako. Losing two sets of parents destroyed her, and I thought maybe you would feel as bad. I know you were hurting and stressed, but the whole time you stayed with me, except for when Hotaru fell. You asked if I was okay, made sure I ate before you took a plate of food. You talked to me and told me everything would be alright. And I knew. I knew I was in love with you."

Mamoru heaved a sigh of relief, bowing his head in remembrance. It was hard to lose parents, and while it was true he had lost two sets, he didn't remember the ones he was born to. That saddened him. But his adoptive parents had loved him very much, and he them. He more than loved them however. He had respected them, and their mission to find the missing children and finally bring them home.

Just as he respected Usagi for taking up that mission in their absence.

"Usako," he said, lifting his hand to her cheek again. Wrapping it behind her neck, he gently pulled her closer and laid his lips on hers, trying desperately not to push her too far. She met his kiss, fingers clutching at his shirt, and dragged him closer. When they moved back and looked at one another, Usagi giggled.

"Somehow that was better than I thought it would be."

Mamoru smirked then, and kissed her again. In fact, he gave her several kisses before he noticed goose bumps raising along her arms. "We should go inside," he said. "It's late and we have a lot to do in the morning."

"We do," Usagi agreed. "I want to try to share my dream with all of you. I think we need to visit a Jinja or Temple."

When they went inside they saw Kunzite and Minako cuddled together. The blonde was nearly asleep, but Kunzite raised his head to look at them. Mamoru nodded that everything was okay, turned off the light, and guided Usagi to the futon. When she lay down he curled up against her back and threw his arm over her waist, pulling the blanket up to cover them both. In moments he was asleep.

) * O * (

Kunzite left the bathroom and found Minako lying on their futon. For a moment he thought she was sleeping, but she reached out her hand for him. Going to her, he lay next to her, turning on his side so he could look into her emotive azure eyes. Every thought seemed telegraphed between them. He almost wished they never had to speak, but something told him he had to push through the fear and tell her everything.

"Minako," be breathed, tenderly brushing the hair off her cheek and behind her ear. "There are things you need to hear, need to know."

She gave him a small smile and took his hand. "Kun," she started, then licked her lips. She seemed to debate for several long moments about what to say. "I love you."

His heart pounding in his chest he nodded slightly. "I'm in love with you," he said, stressing the difference. "I have been for a long time."

Her eyes welled with tears, but she didn't shed them. Instead she moved, pushing herself up on one elbow and pressed her lips to his. Soft, feathery kisses tickled him, and he dug his fingers into her long, thick hair and tugged her head back slightly, deepening the contact. She let out a little moan as he nipped her lip, then licked over the tender spot. Her mouth opened for his tongue and he let himself take what she would give, exploring her mouth.

Her breathy sigh filled his own mouth, making him wish they were ready for more, but he knew they weren't there yet. Pulling back, he placed smaller kisses on her cheeks and grinned at her, waiting. He knew she was bursting to say something. It didn't take long.

"I've been in love with you for years," she whispered, not meeting his gaze. "I don't even know when it happened. It just did. I remember this afternoon when we were all trying to jump the highest on the trampoline. You and Mamoru were doing the best and I thought to myself, 'I can't wait to marry him.' It scared me so much I barely let myself look at you for a week."

Kunzite chuckled. "I know the feeling," he admitted. "I was listening to you sing during a school play and started wondering if our children would have your voice. I was so panicked I talked to my dad!" He shook his head, still disturbed after all the time that had passed. His heart clenched at the memory of his kind and patient father, who had sat with him discussing what it meant to love someone, and what it took to be a good husband and father. He still missed his dad, and no amount of time would change that.

"What did he tell you?" Minako asked curiously.

Brushing his knuckles over her cheek, Kunzite leaned forward and gave her a quick, chaste kiss. "He told me to wait until I was absolutely certain, so that I would never hurt you, but that he'd known I would marry you the first time we met." Kunzite hardly remembered those days. He had only been a toddler himself. "He said the minute your parents brought you into the house I told them you were mine."

Minako giggled. "That's sweet."

"Mina," Kunzite wanted to make sure he was perfectly clear with her. "I know we aren't ready for everything yet, but I want to make you a promise. No matter what happens, I will always be there for you. I will always be with you."

"Kun," Mina let her tears fall this time and he wiped them away with the pads of his thumbs before kissing her again. When they parted both of them were panting. "Kunzite, one day we're going to be married. We'll have a big house, with a fence, and a ton of kids. I know what I want." She shook her head. "I've learned something, losing everyone that we have. I've learned that when you love somebody, you tell them. As often as possible. And you make sure they know it's the truth. I was so afraid of messing up our friendship, or that something would happen to you before I could tell you I loved you."

Surprise filtered through him. Minako always seemed so put together and strong. He had to wonder how much she and Usagi had kept hidden from the rest of them, just to get through each day. Had she been terrified all this time of losing him, and all the others? "I won't let anything happen to either of us," he said, knowing even as he spoke he couldn't guarantee the promise. "I will fight to stay together and I won't let you down."

Mina nodded and kissed his cheek before pushing him onto his back and laying her head on his chest. "Your heart is racing," she murmured after a moment.

"I'm holding you," he whispered, kissing the top of her head. The truth was it wasn't only his heart that was affected. Every part of him longed for Mina. Heart, mind, body, and soul. If she was ready he would spread her open and make her his before the night was out. But she wasn't ready. He wasn't sure if he was either. He only knew that he loved her.

He heard the door open and Usagi and Mamoru both came in. He lifted his head long enough to make sure both were alright before laying back and closing his eyes. Sleep came quickly, with Minako wrapped around him like a blanket, and with it, dreams.

* * *

 **Tokyo, Japan**

* * *

Sakurada Haruna frowned as she sat at the lunch table in the staff room. She missed the more friendly atmosphere of the staff room at the middle school. Honestly, she missed the middle school, and most of her students. Many parents had removed their children from the school district, and even the city, over the course of the past two weeks. Tokyo was a mess, the people in it either terrifying or terrified. She was seriously considering leaving the classroom in favor of online teaching, or leaving the city herself.

Shaking her head, she steeled her resolve. It was people like her, who still cared, that needed to be here for the students who were afraid, or who were being treated unfairly by the school district. She had to keep up her courage and try to make the best of things. After her bento box was opened she sighed, hating all the healthy foods she had packed and wishing with all her might for something sweet and unhealthy. None of the other teachers in the room so much as looked up. That made her sad. Only a few weeks ago most of them had been her friends, and would have traded parts of their lunch for parts of hers.

Her thoughts ran back to the letter she had been working on since the night before. Just over a year ago she had found the love of her life. His name was Akio. He was sweet, kind, caring, and very conscientious. In seconds she had fallen head over heels for him, not daring to believe he cared for her too.

Unfortunately, at the same time they had met, Akio had also met someone else. She'd never discovered who, but whoever it was, Akio had admitted he cared for her as well. For nearly three months they had dated, though not as much as she would have wished. He had told her he was also seeing the other woman, and that he loved them both. It was heart wrenching and Haruna had felt as though she could never measure up. He'd said he loved them equally, and that it was difficult to choose.

Then something had happened. She had never learned what it was, but it was something he felt was so important he had to give everything else up. Herself and the other woman included. He had to finish a task, he had said, but one day he would try to find her again, and if she wasn't already happy with someone else, he would see if they had a chance.

For months she had been quietly inconsolable. Then she had grown accustomed to the yearning and had begun trying to date again, and failing miserably. But hearing the radio program the night before had given her the idea of sending him a message that she was still waiting, and that she still loved him very much. She swiped at the tear that escaped. She just didn't have the right words. It was frustrating.

"Are you alright Haruna?" a soft voice asked.

Looking up she spotted Osaka Mayumi, the one person in the school who had remained her friend. They had met several years before at a conference, talking over their favorite students, and had been surprised to learn that those students knew each other. When they'd discovered that a lively conversation began about the students they had, and what they enjoyed about teaching. Soon they had become fast friends, helping each other through the highs and lows of educating children. They had also both gone through depressing breakups around the same time, and it had cemented the friendship. Mayumi was her best friend in Tokyo, and considering how rarely she talked to her old friends from home, possibly her best friend in the world.

Putting on a smile, Haruna gestured to a chair. "Hey Mayumi," she answered. "I'm alright I suppose. I was just wishing for some chocolate."

"Here," the other teacher said, and opened her bento box. "If you'll share those tomatoes in dressing with me, you can have half my chocolate pocky. You're dressing always comes out so much better than mine."

"Arigato," Haruna said, grabbing one of the plates in the center of the table and dishing out some of the tomatoes. She loved them most of the time, but was having a rough day and really wanted the sweet treat. "I'm trying to decide if I want to push back the tests for another week," she said conversationally.

"I think it's a good idea," Mayumi told her. "I pushed back all of mine. There are so many students missing, and it changes every day. This morning I had a pair of girls sobbing hysterically because their best friend moved to Kofu in the middle of the night."

"That's awful." She sighed, "it's hard not knowing if I will ever see some of my students again." She thought of one in particular, Unazuki, who had been her homeschooled student. Haruna had gone to see her every Friday after school, for just a little while, and she would miss her. She also worried desperately over Minako and Usagi, who were in hiding, and the last she knew, weren't even in the city. "With the riots though..." she trailed off, checking to make sure none of the others had heard her.

"It's all so depressing. Even the sky lately has just been grey. I never hear people laughing anymore." Mayumi's smile slipped, but she hitched it back before anyone but Haruna could notice. It wouldn't do to have the other teachers talking badly about their attitudes.

"I don't either," Haruna admitted. "The only thing I've even been interested in lately is a radio show about love letters."

"I am writing one!" Mayumi said, grinning now. She reached into her bag and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. "Here, look."

"Only if you look at mine," Haruna said, handing over her own much blotched, slightly crumpled letter.

When she opened the paper she was holding however, Haruna blanched. The letter was addressed to Akio. She peered up at Mayumi, who looked pale. "What's his family name?" she asked in a whisper.

"Kobayashi," Mayumi answered, just as quietly. Haruna opened her mouth to speak, but Maumi cut her off with a raised hand. "Shh, not here. Come with me."

Both women threw the remnants of their food into their bento boxes and hurried out of the staff room. Haruna followed her to the fourth floor and into her classroom. They both read through each other's letters, and Haruna hardly dared to believe she was standing in the same room as the other woman Akio loved. He had been honest with Haruna from the start, but it had still affected her, and the way she saw herself. And when it had ended, she'd worried that he was only trying to spare her feelings.

"He told me he couldn't hurt you," Mayumi said softly. "Or me." She shook her head and her dark hair swung softly on her shoulders. "But it did hurt. I guess I assumed he had just chosen you and didn't tell me."

"I thought the same," Haruna explained. "He said that he didn't want to break my heart, or yours, and because of that, and whatever his new 'purpose' was, he would stay alone. It's so sad. All this time I truly thought he had decided to be with you."

Mayumi snorted. "The fool. I would have shared. I didn't care so long as I was with him."

Haruna frowned. She'd never considered the idea. She might not be willing to share him with a stranger, but Mayumi wasn't a stranger. She wondered how it would work. They certainly wouldn't both be able to marry him. But did she need marriage as long as she had him in her life? She looked back at her friend, wondering what it would be like to share a man with her.

"Maybe we could write him together," she said, hoping that it would work. "Tell him that we both forgive him and still love him."

"That's a wonderful idea!" Mayumi exclaimed, clapping her hands. "All this time, and we've been friends. No wonder he was so careful not to say your name. He must have figured it out somehow."

"Maybe he did. Maybe he didn't want us to lose each other."

"Well we won't. We decide here and now," Mayumi said. "We share him equally and never make him choose. Deal?"

"Deal." Haruna said, then laughed. "Of course, that's if we can even find him again. We don't even know if he's still in Tokyo."

) * O * (

Shingo sat alone in one of the unused rooms where he hoped he wouldn't be found. His mind was filled with images he wasn't sure how to handle. He wasn't even thirteen yet, but after Hotaru had kissed his cheek, he was thinking things he didn't think he should be. About kissing her for real, and maybe dating her. It was all so frustrating. He was too young for that, and part of him still thought girls were weird and sort of annoying. She had always been different though. His best friend.

"Why can't I stop thinking about her?" he asked aloud, frustrated. Standing up, he began to pace. "This is stupid. She's still the same girl she's always been. Isn't she?" Running angry fingers through his hair, Shingo walked to the window and looked out. It was evening now. Their studies and training were done for the day. Setsuna and Haruki were out on watch, monitoring the city, and Fiore was out on what Shingo assumed was a date. That just left him and Hotaru, with their guardians of course.

He wasn't sure what Luna and Artemis were doing. They'd had their heads bent over a computer screen most of the afternoon. Tomatsu was sleeping on Shingo's bed, and Tsuki was with Hotaru. He thought they might be watching a movie, but he hadn't dared to peek.

Until he figured out what was happening to him, Shingo wasn't sure how he should act around Hotaru. Why did his heart feel funny every time he thought about her now? And why was he suddenly feeling this way when they had been friends all their lives? Nothing made sense to him anymore. She was his friend. He couldn't mess that up. Losing her would... Shingo shook his head, heart racing. Even the thought of losing her was enough to make him panic.

"What is wrong with me?" he muttered, leaning his forehead on the cool glass. "I just need to get it together. She's still my best friend. I can't let that get damaged."

Whatever these new feelings were, Shingo decided it was far too soon to act on them. He couldn't lose her. He'd seen enough television to know that kissing your best friend would change everything, and if you broke up after then she wouldn't want to be around you anymore. So he would wait, and hope the feelings went away and that he could still be friends with her for a long, long time.

::Shingo, where did you go?:: he heard Tomatsu asked, which meant he was close. The pup's mental voice didn't travel far. He went to the door and opened it, finding Tomatsu on the other side. Scooping him up, Shingo left the room and went to find Hotaru and Tsuki. They could just hang out and watch a movie until the others returned.

) * O * (

As the sun lowered in the sky, it shone down upon two women sitting at a kitchen table. They were surrounded by papers and pens. Two half-full wine glasses sat on the table, next to a wine bottle. Both women wore nervous looks and fiddled with their pens.

"I can't figure out what to say!" Haruna wailed. "This is too important to make a mistake."

"Calm down," Mayumi soothed. "We just have to figure out how we can word this so he understands that we both love him and want him in our lives."

"Then lets just say that," Haruna humped.

Laughing, Mayumi hugged her friend, then took a rather large gulp of wine to give her courage. The two women bent their heads over the paper. "What's most important is letting him know we are both interested in seeing him again, and that we aren't going to force him to choose."

Haruna, who was rather good at writing most of the time, felt like her heart would burst out of her chest as she tried to figure out how to say that. She nibbled the tip of the pen and then pulled the paper close, mumbling out loud as she wrote.

"Dearest Akio," she started. "A year ago you spoke of love and sorrow to two who loved you."

"Good, good," murmured Mayumi. "Maybe add in that we both loved him as well."

"We both felt love for you, yet you couldn't chose between us." She looked over at her friend, unsure if that was right, but Mayumi was nodding. "We both want to tell you now that we won't ask you to choose. A heart can love more than one. A mother doesn't chose one child over another, and we know that your love can fulfill us both." She wasn't sure what else to say.

"Tell him I dream of him," Mayumi said, staring at the wall as though seeing through it. "But in a different world."

"Wait," Haruna gripped her friend's hand. "Is this world mostly red, and the sky is wrong, the stars not where they should be and a great big planet overhead?"

"Hie," Mayumi frowned. "I thought I was making it up."

"I don't think so. I've had those dreams since I met him. And I dream of you sometimes too."

Mayumi laughed. "Who knows," she said, "maybe we all knew each other in a past life. Anything's possible."

"It is," Haruna agreed. She put the pen to the paper and spoke as the words flowed out onto the page. "Lifetimes to love you wouldn't be enough. We dream of those lifetimes, in another time and place we may have shared more. Our hearts ache for more now, and we ask you to...," she frowned, not sure how to end it.

"Give us time to show you what could be," Mayumi suggested.

Nodding, Haruna wrote that, and continued. "Until then, our dreams of you remain hidden, with our memories, no more than words in a diary until you come back and show us your love again. We both still wait, and hope."

"Should we sign our names?"

"I don't know. Is that safe?" Haruna bit her lip. "What if the other teachers found out?"

"It's not like we're the only Mayumi and Haruna in Tokyo," the other woman said, giggling. She gulped down the rest of her wine. "But maybe we should just initial it. H and M, or M and H, or something."

"Good idea." Haruna glanced at her friend, whose cheeks were far too rosy with wine consumed. "I think I'll need to drive. Lets go drop this off and come back here. We can get stupid drunk and wait to hear if they read it on the air."

"Okay," Mayumi said, then hiccoughed. "Lets go."

She struggled up out of the chair, nearly falling as the wine hit her, and the two women hurried out to the car. The whole way to the radio station they sang along with the music that played and both dreamed of another night with the man they loved.

) * O * (

Naru sat with her back against the bathroom door to keep anyone from entering. Her mother was in the remnants of the jewelry store with an insurance man, and she wasn't sure how long that would take. She needed to calm herself before she saw anyone, especially her mother. She was staring, still, at what she had just pulled out from the cabinet under the sink. It sat there, like a snake, on the counter. The box was small, and harmless. All the women she knew used them. It wasn't like they could hurt her.

Honestly, she wasn't afraid to use them. It wasn't about that. It was that there had been no need to use them. No need to grab them from under the sink every time she used the restroom for the past three days. Naru's fear grew as she thought of the possible reason why.

It had only happened once, forgetting the condom. She and Umino had been intimate for months, and they had never forgotten until that night. Everything had led her to that moment. That one time when she'd been so overwhelmed she hadn't thought of the consequences.

Naru had been having such a horrible day. She'd failed a test, broken her shoe, tripped and scratched her palms and her nose, and had been yelled at by her mother because she didn't finish her chores in time for dinner. After a lecture that had lasted all through the meal she had gone out and run to Umino's house. He had been the only one there. All she'd wanted was a little comfort. A bit of love.

She bit her thumb nail and continued to stare at the box. Was it possible? _Could she be pregnant?_ She'd taken health classes, but somehow she'd never thought about them at the time. She'd never considered that she might be the one who got pregnant at a young age, before finishing school, or getting a job, or having a husband.

"What am I going to do?" she moaned, covering her face with her hands.

) * O * (

Haruna knew she was nearly drunk when the radio show finally came on, and she and Mayumi were sitting on her couch together, drinking wine and eating anything unhealthy they could find. Junk food wrappers littered the coffee table, the cushions, and the floor. The first wine bottle lay on it's side, a second one stood next to it, nearly empty. It seemed like the waiting took forever, but finally they heard the smooth voice of Jay Dite, the DJ.

"I hope ours is read first," Mayumi slurred.

"It will be," Haruna said, her vision slightly blurry. "It's juicy. Grab their attention!" she added, holding her hand up, though she couldn't remember her own point.

"This letter comes from the Azabu, from M and H." The man reading paused and when he started talking again his voice seemed even more smooth. " _Dearest Akio. A year ago you spoke of love and sorrow to two who loved you. We both felt love for you, yet you couldn't choose between us. We both want to tell you now that we won't ask you to choose. A heart can love more than one. A mother doesn't chose one child over another, and we know that your love can fulfill us both. Lifetimes to love you wouldn't be enough. We dream of those lifetimes. In another time and place we may have shared more. Our hearts ache for more now, and we ask you to give us time to show you what could be. Until then, our dreams of you remain hidden, with our memories, no more than words in a diary until you come back and show us your love again. We both still wait, and hope._ "

There were several seconds of silence when he finished reading the letter. Haruna and Mayumi both squealed, hugging each other tight. "We did it!" Haruna enthused.

The voice came back and said, "don't forget your gifts ladies. Sharing something so personal and lovely should be rewarded."

Looking at each other Mayumi and Haruna reached for the little purple boxes they had been given at the station. Opening them revealed a beautiful golden brooch. Haruna gasped, reached into the box and pulled it out. "It's so pretty," she exclaimed. She saw Mayumi lift hers out as well.

Her vision was going in and out. "I think I might be drunk," she said softly, staring at the flower brooch in her friend's hand, "but I think that thing is glowing."

"So's yours!" Mayumi declared, grinning. She hiccoughed and smiled, and then fell off the couch, her hand still clasped around the glowing brooch that was slowly sucking the energy out of her.

Haruna frowned. Something was wrong. She tried to put down her own brooch, and couldn't. "What is this thing?" she asked. Shaking, she reached for her cell phone and dialed emergency services. As soon as the operator answered, Haruna whispered, "Help us," and then let herself slide down onto the floor next to her friend, praying they would trace her call and come find them.

* * *

 **Rockport, Maine (USA)**

* * *

 _"Who's there?" Unazuki said, confused. It felt like someone was in her head. "Where are you?"_

 _::You can hear me?:: there was shock in the motherly voice._

 _Unazuki shrugged. "I guess. But I hear everybody, even when I don't want to."_

 _::A telepath then,:: the voice said. ::It must be hard, child, but you can learn how to close their voices away.::_

 _"I can?"_

 _"Yes. It is a simple thing, though not as easily learned as one might think. When you don't want to hear a person's thoughts, simply picture your mind covered in a great big box and lock the lid. You can peep out and hear what you must, but it does not get so overwhelming.::_

 _"Arigato," Una said, happy to know it was something she could learn. "Who are you?"_

 _::I have many names,:: the voice answered. ::Most call me the Tree of Life, but my offspring simply call me Mother.::_

 _"A Tree?" Unazuki asked, "a special tree that can move through space?"_

 _::Yes Child. Have you heard of me?::_

 _"Technically, no," Unazuki admitted. "But I know someone who thinks of a great Tree, who thinks of her often, and is sad he can't go find her. He calls her Mother."_

 _::Fiore!:: the Tree sounded happy and sad all at once. ::My child is here.::_

 _"He's not with me. He's still in Tokyo. He lives with a whole bunch of others who love him and he loves them. Are you going to take him away?" She was concerned about how the others would feel. And Tokyo needed Fiore._

 _::No Child,:: the Tree answered. ::Someone with a silvery light called for me. She wished for us to come.::_

 _"Us?" Una asked, curious._

 _There was a small chuckle. ::His mate and co-mate,:: she said. ::He saved us all once, but left them behind. He was such a small boy he had no idea the connection existed. They have stayed with me over many years searching the planets for him. I would like to see my Child.::_

 _"I could... I could tell him to look for you," Unazuki said. "Tell him you're here."_

 _::Thank you child. Stay safe where you are little one.:: There was a pause. ::The one who you seek will soon wake,:: she added, and then the presence was gone._

Unazuki woke up in her new room, in her warm cozy bed with it's thick green comforter and smiled. It was a pretty room. Along the lower half of the walls there was dark wood. Over that an emerald green piece of wallpaper had been set, which ran the entire length of the room, and above was a mint green paint that gave a cheery feeling. It was a room that was soothing.

Her room was on the third floor of the house. She had her own bathroom, and a little nook in one corner where her parents had set up a desk for her, as well as two tall shelves that were filled with books and manga. She even had a little computer, where she could call Motoki whenever she wanted. She wasn't sure if it was originally a bedroom or not, since in the corner was a small circular set of stairs.

Thinking of her dream, and the voice she had heard, Unazuki wondered exactly what she should say to Fiore. How could she tell him that his Mother was there, and that he would have his mate and co-mate soon. And what was a co-mate? She stretched and sat up.

As she had every morning since their arrival, Unazuki climbed out of her bed, used the restroom and dressed, and then headed for those stairs. Little clangs met her footfalls on the metal surface, but her father said it was sturdy and wouldn't fall. Even so, Una always held onto the railings. When she reached the top, Unazuki found herself in a small tower room. It was square, and more shelves lined the lower walls, under the huge windows that opened up a view of her new world. On one side was the town of Rockport, Maine. On the other was the ocean.

A little door with glass windows led to a place called a widow's walk. She stepped outside and breathed the fresh air, delighting in the way it smelled pure and clean. There was no hate, and no anger here. She didn't hear thoughts full of hatred and anger and madness. The whole town was pure and clean, just the way it should be. Smiling, she lifted her face to the sun. She missed her brother, very much, and her friends as well. But she didn't miss Tokyo. Not the way it had become.

She was more grateful than she could say that they had family in America they could turn to. One of her aunts had married an American, and they had helped her mom and dad buy this new house and a property downtown where they planned to set up a little place like the fruit parlor they'd had in Tokyo. Unazuki was only grateful they didn't expect her to help, yet. One day she was sure she would be able to handle it. For now, she was grateful that she felt safe and protected.

When she was done greeting the day, Unazuki went back to her room and through to the long hallway. It led down a back set of stairs that ended in the kitchen. She loved the kitchen here. It was big and bright and modern, with a breakfast nook that had a built in bench along two walls and opened up in great big windows that looked over the harbor.

"Morning Una," her father said, kissing her on the forehead. "Have some breakfast. We wanted to talk to you."

"About what?" Unazuki asked, curious.

"Well schools here will be starting soon," her mother said, pouring the batter for pancakes into a frying pan. She had learned the trick from Ikuko, who had been their neighbor, and Usagi and Minako's mom.

A thrill of fear shot through Una. She stared at her parents, unsure what they planned. She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound emerged. Closing it again, she closed her eyes and waited for her doom to fall.

"You have a few choices," her father said, resting a hand on her shoulder. "You can attend the local high school. It's a bit far away, but there are only about six hundred students."

Unazuki blinked. There had been many more than that in her middle school in Tokyo. She'd homeschooled after... She turned her mind away from that thought, not wanting to think about it.

"Or you could homeschool," Etsuko interjected, waving her spatula.

"There is a third option however," her father added. "One I think you might prefer."

"What is it?" Unazuki asked.

"There is a girl who lives three houses away. Her father and I were talking yesterday. He had to show me how to restart the furnace. Anyway, he said his daughter homeschools as well, but that every Friday she and several others get together and go to the high school for four hours. That is when they attend art, music, and gym classes. Her father said she is a little lonely and would love it if you were to study with her once or twice a week."

"It's completely up to you Unazuki," her mother added. "We know you are doing better here, but we don't expect an overnight change. What you went through had a huge effect on you and we aren't going to push you too far."

Unazuki nodded and bit her lip, thinking. The day before she had gone outside, at least as far as the edge of their property, which fell down a steep rocky area right to the beach. She had stood there looking over the water and wondering how her brother was, and if he was safe in Tokyo. Nothing was as it once had been. She had looked out and thanked the kami that she was no longer there, but wished that one day it was safe to go back.

Now she had a question to answer. As much as she wanted to return home one day, it might be a long time before that happened, and this place was much safer. She didn't think she would be in danger here, but fear was a constant companion, a friend that had kept her alive. It was hard to let go of that fear, and even harder to step out of her comfort zone.

She thought of the other girl. Her father said she was lonely. Did that mean she was afraid too? Maybe if they were both afraid, they could help each other. Maybe it would be okay if she and the other girl went out together. Maybe she could have a friend again.

"I'll study with the other girl," she said, "and maybe try going to the high school if I don't get scared."

"I'm very proud of you," her father said, giving her a hug. "Maybe you should talk to Motoki about it later."

"And tell him we miss him," her mother added. "And the others."

"I wish they all could have come with us," Unazuki said, sad that her friends were still in danger. "Especially the younger ones."

Her mother dropped the spatula but hurried to pick it back up. "We thought about it," she admitted. "But Kobayashi-san said they needed to stay."

Unazuki wondered what the overreaction had been about, but didn't ask. She knew her parents would tell her when they thought she could handle it. Two years before she might have been annoyed by that, but not anymore. Now she was grateful they were cautious with her. One day she wanted to be brave and strong again, but today wasn't that day.

After breakfast, Unazuki made her way out onto the porch. It wrapped around part of the house and a little part of it was screened off. It was there she went, taking her laptop with her, to call her brother. It would be evening in Tokyo, she thought. She had slept from the airport in Tokyo until she had woken in her bedroom in their new house. She thought perhaps Fiore had done something to make that happen. He was special. Whatever the cause, she hadn't had to deal with the tiredness both her parents had their first two days.

She placed the video call and waited, hoping her brother was able to answer.

"Una!" Motoki said happily, a smile crossing his face. "We all miss you."

"We miss you too. Mom and dad told me to say they love and miss all of you."

"You hear that?" Motoki asked, looking over his shoulder at someone who wasn't on screen.

Unazuki heard several people murmuring replies. She was excited about her news and chattered happily, telling Motoki everything about her room, and that there were so few students in the high school, and that she was going to try and make a new friend. "I'm a bit worried about it," she admitted. "But yesterday I went outside all by myself, right up to the end of the grass."

"You'll have to send me pictures," Motoki said.

"I will. Could you..." Unazuki paused, not sure how to say what she wanted to say. "Could you ask Fiore to call me?"

"He can talk to you now. Hold on. Hey Fiore, Una wants to talk to you. Come on guys, lets give them a minute, okay?" She waved goodbye to Motoki and the others, who she could see leaving the room, and waited for Fiore to sit down.

"Hey Una, what's up?"

Una bit her lip. She had never talked to anyone about this before, and she felt nervous. "I um... do you remember the airport?"

"Hie," he answered, "of course I do."

"You said if I ever needed to talk, I could come to you. And I do, need to talk, I mean. I sort of have a secret, and I know you have a secret too, but only because I couldn't help it. But I wanted someone to know." She bit her lip, wishing she didn't sound like such a baka.

"What is it Una?" he asked. "You know my secret, and that's okay. Your brother does too, and the others here. And you know I would never tell yours. It's alright."

"I can read minds," she blurted.

Fiore nodded slowly. "Okay. I can see why you didn't tell. Did you hear something that upset you?"

Unazuki snorted. "Yeah. Two years ago. That was the day it started and it almost got me..." she didn't dare say the rest, not wanting to have another panic attack. "But um, when you were in the airport with me I knew you would keep me safe."

"Of course I would. You're like a little sister to me."

"Exactly," Una said, nodding her head. "Which means that like Motoki, sometimes I get to be bratty and tell you to do stuff and be annoying." She grinned, thankful when he laughed. She preferred a lighter mood.

"Uh oh, you aren't going to tell me to eat cottage cheese are you? I saw Motoki try it. Not happening."

"It was a dare. He had to," Unazuki said, laughing. "No. No dares. But I wanted to say something, and I don't want you to think I'm silly."

"I won't," he promised.

"You really aren't alone you know. Sometimes you think it. Like when you saw Sets and Ruki holding hands. You aren't alone."

"I won't be forever," he said, "but right now, I sort of am."

"Uh uhn!" Unazuki argued. "I told you I can read minds. Last night someone came for you."

"Came there? Why would they go to Maine. I'm in Tokyo."

Unazuki giggled. "They went to Tokyo silly. It was like a great big mind. The loudest voice I ever heard. She was so loving and kind and she knew I could hear her and said it was going to be okay. She's looking for her son, and there are two with her. Two who are meant for you."

"Mother," Fiore breathed. He froze and for a second Una thought the computer was messing up, but then he rubbed his hands over his face. "She's here?" he asked.

"Yes. I don't really know where. She doesn't know the names of all the places. But she's sending the others to look for you. They came to help because someone called them. Someone with a silver glow. I don't know who it is, but she was very excited about the one who called."

"When did you hear the voice?" he asked.

"Last night, when I was sleeping."

"Thank you Una," Fiore said, his voice breaking. "Thank you."

"Of course. Now I get to tell you what to do and because you're my brother you have to listen, got it?"

Fiore nodded.

"Go find them," she said.

"I will."

* * *

 **D Point - The Arctic Circle - Dark Kingdom (Negaverse)**

* * *

Metalia stretched. She had enough energy to focus on the world outside her prison. Formless, she writhed like smoke and searched the minds of those forced to do her bidding. Preparations were underway for new dark generals to be captured, turned to her purposes. The task of turning them took energy, but she was willing to spare it, if she could only make more who would bring her energy. Those fighting against her couldn't be everywhere at once. There were people in every corner of the world. If she had to, she could drain them all. That meant more generals.

There were some, out there, who could be turned. Some who had gifts beyond the normal, Crystals linking them to some higher power or purpose. Those she could take and twist and bend and snuff out until she controlled all that was left. Her laughter rang on the walls of her prison. She needed someone who could sense the Crystals. Someone who had proven useful in taking others. Let Beryl focus on her prince. Metalia had another idea. The worthless girl was wasting her generals on the plan to bring the boy, but Metalia thought there might be one who sought revenge.

Deep in the labyrinthine caves of the Dark Kingdom there was a cavern, forgotten by most. Inside this cavern three were kept in the chambers of eternal slumber. A torture far worse than the Crystalline coffins where Dark Generals were turned. These coffins stood upright and inside the prisoners did not sleep. They did not age, or hunger, or thirst. But they were aware. Aware of every day, every hour, every minute, every second that passed while they were trapped. Many who had been tortured during her previous reign had been driven mad, unless they had a purpose, a cause that gave them inner strength.

The three who rested there had all failed Beryl in some way. The pompous girl had thrown them into eternal slumber and forgotten their existence. But Metalia knew Beryl's usefulness would soon be at an end. Until then she would wake her generals in secret and set them to a new purpose. Find anyone with a hint of power and bring them to be turned.

* * *

 _ **Please don't hate me for the cliffhangers.**_


	11. Chapter 10

****Author's Note:**** Well, here's another chapter for you. I left it slightly shorter than the others. All of this happens during one morning, and the rest of the day will take a long time to write. Lol. Anyways, happy reading. I really hope you enjoy it.  
Sailor Silver Ladybug  
~ Tori

* * *

 ** **Unknown Force****  
 ** **Quest for the Crystals****  
 ** **Chapter Ten****

* * *

 **Kirishma, Kyushu Japan**

* * *

 _It will all fall._

 _The booming voice echoed in the darkness, sending shivers up Minako's spine. She spun in every direction, trying to find some point of light, some escape. There was nothing. She was alone in the dark and there was no escape._

 _It will all fall._

 _The voice came again. Scratchy and powerful, it resonated in her chest, making her heart pound painfully. She spun again. Still no way out._

 _"Help me!" she shouted. No one answered. There was nothing there, and no one to save her. "Please!"_

 _It will all fall!_

 _This time the voice knocked her off her feet and onto her back. She held both arms above her head and prayed for help._

"Mina," Kunzite's gentle voice reached her. She could feel him shaking her gently and one of his hands rubbing small circles on her back. "Mina, you're safe. I'm with you. Wake up."

Her eyes blinked open and Minako stared up into the silvery eyes of the man she loved. He was leaning over her, hand still on her lower back, looking concerned. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Hai. I think it was just a bad dream," she explained. "I was scared."

"I know. I could feel it," Kunzite admitted. He sat up and pulled her onto his lap. "But you don't have to be afraid. You aren't alone. I'm here and I don't plan to go anywhere. Besides," he added, grinning down at her, "I don't think anything could separate you and Usagi for long."

"Every time I start to feel happy my world comes crashing down," Minako admitted. "I don't want to lose you."

"That will never happen."

"You can't promise that. You could be killed by a Youma, or captured and turned evil. Or you could be hit by a car!" Minako felt bile rise up in her throat and hastily swallowed it, trying to calm herself.

"If I die, I'll come back and haunt you," Kunzite said, kissing her forehead. "If I get captured, you and the others will come and save me." He kissed her cheek. "No matter what happens, I will always find my way back to you."

Their lips met in a sweet and passionate kiss that made Minako's toes curl and her heart kick into high gear. She moaned as his tongue entered her mouth and pressed against him, wrapping both arms around his neck as she held on for dear life. His lips were so hot and felt so good against hers. She never wanted the kiss to end.

Then she heard Usagi giggle. "You're going to swallow her face Kunzite," she laughed. "Let her breathe or you'll both turn blue."

Unable to help herself, Minako pulled away and broke into laughter, grinning over Kunzite's shoulder at her sister. She stuck her tongue out, still laughing. "Funny Usa," she said, pretending to be annoyed. Usagi only giggled in response.

"I think we should get to the temple," Mamoru said, trying and failing to hide his own grin.

"I know, but give them a minute," Usagi chided. "Come on. Lets go pack up the car. No matter what happens we have to move on after the temple."

"Fine. But you have to do the folding," Mamoru said as he hurried to put away all the food they'd brought.

) * O * (

They sat in a circle under the watchful eyes of an elderly monk. "You must let yourself drift," he told Usagi as she tried to bring up the memory of her dream. "Be open to the ones you love. Let them see inside your heart. Guide them along the way."

His words seemed to fade in and out and Usagi realized she was beginning to hear and see the things she remembered from her dream. It was working. Soon they would have their first real clue. She knew this was it. They would learn where they needed to go.

 _Feeling pulled, Usagi began to climb the slope. Her muscles didn't ache and each step took her further than she thought possible. In moments she was at the top, looking over the lake of fire she had seen in her vision. The Crystals were both there, sitting on their pedestals._

 _Looking carefully over the edge, she could see a small area that didn't look dangerous to climb down, and she made her way towards it, taking the path that switch-backed around a large stone outcropping. The crater was much deeper than she had imagined, and though the path was clear, it took much longer to climb down than it had to scale the entire mountain only moments before._

 _Finally, she reached the green Crystal with the red Crystal attached in the center. Carefully she reached her hand out to pick the stone up. Her hand passed through. She looked up and down the pedestal. Perhaps there was some instruction. Engraved at the bottom was a single word. Cerbero._

 _She didn't understand the word. It wasn't written in Japanese, or in English. Usagi rolled her eyes. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. She peered across the small lake of lava. She could see a path leading around one side, but it was treacherous. She could climb back to the top, but she didn't see a path down on that side. It was sheer._

 _Carefully she made her way along the treacherous path, terrified she would lose her balance and fall into the lake of fire. For several steps she held her breath, her mind racing with panic, until the trail widened and she could walk easily again. She made her way to the second pedestal. Again, she reached for the Crystal, and again, her hand passed through without touching._

 _Remembering the word on the first one, she looked at the bottom. Cherufe. She made her way back to the other side, a bit more sure than before, and climbed the path to the top of the crater. Looking carefully at the landscape she tried to mark the location in her mind. Every time she focused on a landmark the entire world seemed to blur. She couldn't make any of the details clear in her mind._ _She stepped down and made her way from the peak._

Usagi blinked open her eyes and stared at the others. Had they seen it? Were they able to remember the words?

) * O * (

"Look!" Kunzite said, pointing at the screen of the laptop. "That's Chile. It's in South America. It has an active lava lake!" Excitement filled him as he pointed to the features he recognized from the shared vision. "We know where to go."

"And something of what we'll face when we get there," Mamoru added. "We know Cerbero is the Spanish version of Cerberus. That's a demon dog or something. And look at what Cherufe means!" He pointed to the notes Usagi had taken. "Some sort of lava monster."

Usagi frowned. "Plus you've been dreaming about dragons."

Mamoru nodded. "I have."

"So what do we know?" Kunzite asked, looking at the others. "We have to get to Chile to this volcano. Villarrica. We're going to face some really tough monsters when we get there. Do we know if we can actually take the stones?" That thought was worrying him now. Usagi hadn't been able to touch them in the dreams.

"I don't know," Usagi said. "I don't think we will know until we get there."

"Well, I guess we have a plane to catch," Kunzite said, frowning.

) * O * (

Mamoru left the cabin for the final time. He and Usagi had gotten everything packed that morning, so there wasn't much else to do after they'd figured out where to go next. Now they had to get to an airport and book a flight out of Japan. It was frightening. He had never been out of the country and didn't know what to expect. As far as he could remember, he had never even been on a plane.

It was Usagi that worried him the most however. She had been quiet ever since they'd agreed to go to South America. As he stepped onto the porch, he caught sight of her staring up the mountain. She looked so sad and lost.

Making his way to her, Mamoru reached out and pulled his soulmate into his arms. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Remember what Minako said about her dream this morning?" Usagi asked instead.

"Hai."

"That's how I'm feeling right now," Usagi said, turning in his arms so that she was staring up at him. Mamoru swallowed. She was so beautiful. "I'm terrified of losing you or Minako or Kunzite. Or any of the others we left behind in Tokyo. I want to know this is going to work out, that we're all going to be okay. I can't bear to lose any of you."

"Usako," Mamoru murmured, pulling her into a tight hug. "I can't promise everything will be okay," he whispered into her ear. "I can only promise that no matter what happens I will never give up. I love you."

"I love you Mamo-chan," she breathed, making him shiver. "Don't ever leave me."

"I won't," he agreed. "But if something does take me away, I'll find my way back. I promise."

* * *

 **Tokyo, Japan**

* * *

"Moshi," Akio said, answering his new communicator.

"Kobayashi-san," Usagi said, smiling up at him. "We've figured out where the first set of Crystals are hidden."

"Already. I didn't think it would be the first place you looked," Akio told her.

"It wasn't. I've been having dreams about the Crystals. Well today I was able to show the dreams to the others and together we searched the internet for any places that matched the dream. We're going to Chile. It's an active volcano with a lava lake."

Clearing his throat to buy time, Akio considered what he was being told. He knew whatever they found there, it wouldn't be as simple as picking up the crystals. They would be guarded. "Be careful," he warned.

"We will. We just wanted you to know we had figured something out and that we're going to be flying to Chile."

"Thank you," he answered, happy she was so responsible. "Make sure you check in. Are you going to come for a visit, or will you wait until after you collect the Crystals?"

"I don't know," Usagi admitted. "Probably we will come for a visit right before we head up the mountain."

"Good. I want to see all of you."

) * O * (

Fiore rushed through the hospital, his mind focused on one goal. Get to the teachers. He had tried to call Haruna-sensei that morning and an officer had answered her phone. Fear still raced through him. He couldn't believe they'd been attacked. He still had no idea what had happened, or how, but he was determined to find out.

The Youma ward was in the hospital annex, on the bottom floor. He moved past the nurses station, already knowing where to go, and made his way into the room where the two teachers were recovering. He knocked on the door, but neither of the women answered.

Heart pounding in his throat, Fiore made his way inside and gasped at the pale faces of Osaka-sensei and Haruna-sensei. They looked almost dead, their skin ashen and their lips slightly blue. Shaking his head in anger, he made his way to Haruna-sensei's bed and rested a hand on her forehead. Before he could do anything, he sensed a source of dark energy and pain.

Haruna's fist was clenched around a brooch. He stripped it out of her hand, hissing when it burned his skin, and threw it into the corner. Then he took the one on Osaka-sensei's shirt and threw it as well before going back to lay his hand on Haruna-sensei's head again.

After closing his eyes, Fiore searched the world for the closest source of healthy energy. There were several large willow trees outside. He pulled strength from them, not much from any, just enough to give to the teacher who had supported him so much a few years before, and who now supported Usagi and Minako. He also pulled dark energy out of her. In moments her eyes blinked open and she stared up at him, calmer than he would have believed.

"Stay still and don't try to talk yet," he warned. "You were drained of energy. I've healed you, but not completely. You have to look tired and drained until we can get you out of here."

"May..." Haruna-sensei swallowed and her hand moved as though she was reaching for someone.

"Osaka-sensei is right here in the next bed. I'm going to heal her too."

"Kay," the teacher whispered, closing her eyes again.

Fiore moved to the next bed and rested his hand on the other teacher's forehead. She was his homeroom teacher before he and the others had been pulled out of the school. He cared about her a great deal as well. Again he pulled energy from the trees on the grounds and sent it into Osaka-sensei before destroying the dark energy. Soon she was blinking up at him too.

After reassuring both women, Fiore rushed to the nurses station, pretending to be shocked, and told the nurses the two teachers were awake. One of them rushed back with him, all the while saying it was impossible. That no one woke from a Youma attack that quickly. She gasped when she saw the teachers struggling to reach each other and hurried to push them back down on their beds.

"Just give me a few minutes to get the doctor in here. You need to be evaluated. You were both incredibly lucky. I've never seen anyone recover so fast."

"It was those things," Fiore said, not needing to fake his shudder. "I didn't recognize them so I took them off and they woke up."

"This is new," the nurse said, bending down to look. "No one touch them," she added, giving Fiore a stern look. "I'm afraid if you hadn't taken those brooches off them, they would have died. That's why I was so surprised. They just kept getting worse instead of better. You saved their lives."

Fiore frowned, not sure how to react. He had only done what was right. He couldn't tell the nurse his secret, but he wished he could. He wished he could go into every room in the hospital and heal them all.

As soon as the nurse left the room, Fiore opened his communicator. "We've got a problem," he told Haruki.

) * O * (

::My Son!:: Mother gasped, startling Ail.

He turned and looked at the massive, beautiful tree who had given him life and protected him ever since. "You've found him Mother?" he asked.

::He has used the energy of growing things to heal,:: Mother explained. ::I felt him draw from the earth's plants to help two women he cares for. Teachers.::

"Then you were right," An said, entering the room. "He is here in Tokyo. Soon we will find him and bring him to you Mother."

::He will find us,:: Mother corrected. ::The message has been passed. Even now he searches with every breath, sending energy into the earth to look for us. I must send him a message.::

Mother sent her own energy into the earth. Ail and An could both feel it. She was healing the area around the rift in dimensions, letting the energy of her love sink into the soil. Ail stared out the window in awe as the trees seemed to stand straighter, new flowers blossomed, and the grass turned a brilliant shade of green with new life. Fiore would feel the change. He would know where to look.

) * O * (

"Come on in," Setsuna said softly, closing her bedroom door behind them. "Now tell me what you are doing here so late at night. You know better than to go out in the dark alone with the city the way it's been."

Naru bit her lip and sank down onto the edge of the bed. She stared at Setsuna, wishing Usagi and Minako were with them. This wasn't easy for her and she knew the others would make everything better. Tears tried to fall but she blinked her eyes rapidly to push them away. She had to be strong now.

"What's the matter?" Setsuna asked when Naru didn't answer.

"I think I'm pregnant."

"What?" Setsuna choked out. "How?"

Naru blushed. "The normal way," she hissed, embarrassed. "I was really upset one night and we forgot to use a condom."

"Wait," Setsuna held up a hand. "Just wait one minute. You and Umino are physically intimate?"

"Hai. We've been having sex for months." She heard Setsuna's heavy swallow as she tried to digest the information.

"But you're so young," Sets whispered. "Even Haruki and I only just started being intimate, and we've been dating a very long time."

"He's my soulmate Sets," Naru explained.

Setsuna nodded, then went to her dresser and opened the bottom drawer. "You're lucky I found these when we were cleaning out the houses before we moved." She held up a bag. Inside were three small boxes. All were different brands of pregnancy tests. "I never thought it would be you to come to me first," she added.

"Who did you think would be first?" Naru asked, curious now.

"Usagi."

"Why her? She and Mamoru are in love, sure, but they haven't even started dating yet." Naru was confused.

Setsuna snickered. "Haruki and I discussed this a long time ago. There's just something about the way Mamoru is with Usagi. If they ever get to that point I highly doubt he will stop to think of protection. Honestly, I think he would halfway be hoping to get her pregnant."

"That's not right!" Naru said, frustrated. "He can't push her to be a mom too young."

"I think he knows that," Setsuna said soothingly. She frowned. "I don't think he would ever push her into anything. I just have a feeling he wants children with her, soon."

"Still, they should both be careful. He wants to be a doctor someday and Usagi was thinking of becoming a teacher. Or a counselor. Maybe a nurse. Of course, she could draw and write manga too. But those plans would all get messed up if they start popping out kids now."

Setsuna raised an eyebrow, making Naru blush. Of course all those same things applied to herself and Umino. Not that she'd been thinking about that when she'd run to him upset. That was a problem she had to face now. She wanted to marry Umino and have children together. Just not today, or any time until after high school. She would have to work hard to even get in to high school. There were entrance exams after all.

"Let's go see if you're pregnant, then we can finish our discussion," Setsuna said, taking her hand and tugging her up.

Five minutes, and a whole heaping pile of stress, passed before she and Setsuna stood looking down at the test. One pink line. She glanced at the box to make sure. Only one line meant she wasn't pregnant. So why wasn't she having her period?

"Stress," Setsuna said softly. Naru realized she must have asked her question aloud. "A lot of things can affect a woman's cycle. The biggest of those is stress. Our bodies go into protection mode. I think it's just a prehistoric mechanism to make sure women don't have babies when their environment isn't safe. Who knows though, it could be something else. A hormone imbalance, or you might have a cyst. I've heard those can throw off your cycle too."

"You know a lot about this stuff," Naru said, impressed.

"I do. I was really curious when my period started. Mom sat me down and talked all about it. Then I was there when Minako and Usagi both got the talk. And just a few months ago we all sat and told Hotaru everything."

"I guess that would make it all sink in," Naru answered, still staring at the pregnancy test. Mostly she felt relief, but there was a little part of her that was slightly disappointed. She really did want to be a mother someday. And Umino's wife. She had always felt as though it was the reason she'd been born. Being a mother. That and to be there for Usagi and the others. Like she had always been meant to be their friend.

"I want to give you something," Setsuna said, tugging her back into the room she shared with Haruki. "Something that will make it a whole lot easier to remember condoms next time."

"What is it?" Naru asked.

"Just come with me." Setsuna let out a little laugh. "This is something my mom gave to me a long time ago. I was about twelve at the time and having my period scared me to death. The others were still little girls really, not really aware that in just a year or two they would be young women. I didn't have anyone to talk to, and I was very confused. I told my mom I wanted to have kids and be a wife and mom forever."

Naru groaned. "I bet that didn't go over well."

"Not really, no." She chuckled. "My mother handed me this." Setsuna leaned down and grabbed a bag with a tiny machine on the front. "This is actually something she made. A while back there were these keychains. On the end of the keychain was a tiny little game. A digital pet. You see something similar sometimes in games on the phones, but this was during a time when cell phones were huge bulky things and had no games, or even a screen."

Naru took the bag. It had been sewn so the tiny machine was attached to it. The bag itself was perhaps five inches long and two wide. The machine was off. Setsuna took it back and used a pen to press a hidden button on the side. The game beeped. Naru lifted an eyebrow. What did a game have to do with anything?

"My mother said when you can keep the digital pet alive for a full year, to come and ask about being a mother again. I couldn't manage more than a week," she added, snorting loudly. "She told me that after I could keep the pet alive, then it would be time to talk about how much a baby cost. Since I never got to that part with her I ended up looking online a while after she died. And I decided I would wait until Haruki and I both had good jobs and we'd had plenty of time together to do the things we wanted first."

"That's a good idea," Naru said softly.

"It is. And inside the little bag is a couple packets of condoms. It's a way to remember. If you can't keep a digital pet alive, how could you take care of a baby. So until you're sure, use the condoms."

Naru broke into giggles. "I guess that works. Do you mind if I hang on to this for a bit? Just until one of the other girls needs it?"

"I don't mind at all. That's why I told you about it. Maybe you could tell Usagi and Minako all about it. Which reminds me, did Luna give you and Umino your new communicators yet?"

"No," Naru said, excited now.

"Then lets go find her."

* * *

 **Okinawa, Japan**

* * *

De'Shaun Allen was in a horrible mood. His morning had not gone well, and it didn't look like it was going to get any better. As he turned the corner past his house, he clenched his fists in frustration. His mother had been angry about his little brother making a mess on their bedroom wall and had blamed De'Shaun. And of course, both of his little sisters had been a real pain, teasing him about it. It wasn't fair!

If that wasn't bad enough, his father had spilled coffee on his homework, his tooth had started to ache, and he had no idea where he had put his keys, which meant he would have to wait for his brother and sisters to get home after school before he could get into the house. He hated hanging out after school.

"Well, if it isn't Shawnie," came a smug voice just behind him.

De'Shaun spun. It was never a good idea to let a bully sneak up on you. He frowned, wondering how he could have missed Lester. Where had he come from and how had he avoided being seen?

"What do you want?" De'Shaun asked.

"For starters, you out of my school, off this military base, and out of Japan. We don't need your kind here?"

"My kind?" De'Shaun wanted to kick himself for asking the moment the words were out of his mouth. He knew better than to engage. He tried to remember what his father had taught him about handling bullies. Step one was to try and defuse the situation.

"Enough Lester," he said, frowning. "I know you don't like me. I get it. You don't have to. And I hate being here as much as you hate having me here. I would give almost anything to get back home to North Carolina."

"No one wants you there either, Freak," Lester snarled. "You shouldn't even exist. You don't deserve to live!"

De'Shaun moved on to step two. Back away slowly. He let out a soft sigh and took a step back. He didn't respond. But he could tell it wouldn't work when Lester started stalking toward him and pulled a fist back. He dodged the blow and danced out of the way, grateful for his quick feet.

"Give it a rest Lester," De'Shaun warned, not wanting to make it to the third step. He would get in trouble if Lester reported it to the school. Not that he would be punished at home. His parents had learned long ago that it wasn't his fault and that he tried to avoid the conflict whenever he could.

Lester again tried to swing at him, so De'Shaun grabbed his arm and moved quickly, pulling it behind him and then up so his hand was resting only inches under his neck. He knew the position hurt as he'd had it done to him by his father when he taught De'Shaun the move. It was painful but caused no lasting damage. It simply stopped the person.

"I get it Les," De'Shaun hissed, his anger raging now. "You don't like me. You hate me. You don't want me to live. But can I just ask why? What is it about me being gay that causes you any harm whatsoever? Hmm? Have I ever even looked at you funny? No. And do you know what? I never will. And if you don't start acting like a human, no girl will either. Leave me alone!"

"Die freak!" Lester yowled, trying to break out of his hold.

There was a rushing sound and De'Shaun turned his head to see a streak of green racing across the street towards him and Lester. As quickly as he could he pushed Lester out of harm's way and dodged to the side, staring in shock as some sort of slimy green monster stopped where he had been only seconds before, spitting some sort of acid.

"What the hell?" Lester asked, looking as terrified as De'Shaun felt. "What is that thing?"

"I... I don't know," De'Shawn answered. "Remember that news report we saw? About those monsters in Tokyo? Could this be one of them?" he asked, dodging a stream of smoking spit the creature was aiming at him. "It's looking at me. Run while you can."

Lester gulped and rose to his feet, catching the attention of the monster.

"Hey!" De'Shaun yelled, trying to get its attention back. "Now!" he yelled, the second the Youma thing was staring at him. "Run!"

He could see Lester from the corner of his eye, running as fast as he could while looking back over his shoulder. The monster didn't even bother to look at him again. Its attention was entirely focused on De'Shaun and it hissed. "My mistress needs power," it whispered. "You have power. You belong to my mistress."

"No, I don't," De'Shaun argued. "I belong to me and no one else."

The creature laughed. "You're funny human. Come now. It is time to see my mistress." It reached out with a scaly green arm, claws extended as it tried to grab De'Shaun, but years of dodging bullies had made him fast and smart. He rolled instead of running and backed away as quickly as he could. The creature walked toward him, head cocked as though he was curious.

"Help me," De'Shaun muttered as the clawed hand closed around his collar.

"Let go of my brother!" Stacia screamed. She was only seven years old, and was the youngest of his siblings. Next to her were Ava and Jerome, both looking terrified.

"Oh! Toys," the Youma monster said, and he reached out as though to grab the others.

De'Shaun screamed in panic, his heart clenching in pain. Heat welled up inside him and a rush of it seemed to flow out of his fingertips. The sound of screeching metal hit his ears and he watched in shock as a light pole bent in half and fell on top of the Youma, helping him break out of it's hold.

"Run!" he called to his siblings, hurrying to their side. He could hear the Youma scrabbling to get out from under the light pole. He herded his siblings around the corner, back toward their house, and started racing for it with them. The Youma jumped in front of them, so he turned and led them into the park, his breath coming in sobbing pants as he searched for a place to hide.

"There," he pointed to the monkey bars, a domed metal structure that looked ancient and rusty. He'd never let the younger kids play on it, but he felt it was the safest place in the park. "Hide under there," he ordered.

"De'Shaun, hide with us!" Stacia yelled.

"I can't. I think it's after me. If I stay near you, you'll all get hurt. Now stay here and be as quiet as you can until I lead him away. Then you run home and get mom and dad before they go to work. If I don't come back-"

"No!" Jerome yelled. "You can't leave us!"

"I might have to," De'Shaun answered, hugging his brother. "I'm sorry. I have to lead it away. If I don't come back, stay together and stay safe. Protect each other and mom and dad. Tell them I love them. And I love you!" As soon as he had spoken, he hurried them into the structure.

Unsure what led him to do it," De'Shaun stared in shock as he reached out and put his hand on one of the bars and the entire structure folded around his siblings, leaving them very little room to escape when the time came. But they were little and the monster was shooting acid out of his mouth. He couldn't let the kids be hurt.

"Hey slimy!" he called, watching the Youma monster stalk closer and closer. "I bet you can't catch me!" he teased, backing away little by little.

He tried to stay between the creature and the monkey bars until they were both far enough away he was sure the monster wouldn't go for his siblings. Then he turned and ran as fast as he could. He could hear the thing's footsteps, it's ragged breath, and it's annoyed demands that he stop. Then it was closer and he could feel it's hot breath on his neck. He had almost given up hope entirely when he fell to his knees, despair a heavy weight.

He waited for the final blow, but it never came. Instead the creature screamed in pain. De'Shaun turned, shocked, to see the metal pole from a sign sticking out of the middle of it's chest. It had impaled the monster somehow, even though there wasn't a breath of wind.

"You won't escape," the monster croaked. "More will come. You will serve my mistress." And then it started to disintegrate before his eyes. In moments nothing remained but a pile of dust, being scattered on the light breeze.

"De'Shaun!" his father yelled, racing into the wooded area, his gun drawn.

Turning, he ran for his father, clinging to him. For just a moment he'd thought he would never see him again. A moment later he felt his mother slam into them both. He held on tight, grateful for his big, strong, Marine parents, who would keep him safe.

"The kids said it was some sort of monster. Lester told the entire school. Where did it go?" his mother asked.

"Right there," De'Shaun pointed at the pile of dust. "It's like those Youma-thingies in Tokyo."

"How did it get on the base?" his father asked, looking around carefully.

That was a question De'Shaun didn't have an answer to. His mind was refocusing on one thing the monster had said which terrified him. More would come. And if they did, De'Shaun wasn't certain he could protect his family.


End file.
